A new Engineering and Sciences Building has been opened at American University of Sharjah (AUS) by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates, Ruler of Sharjah and President of AUS. The new four-story facility houses two auditoriums, 35 teaching and research laboratories, and 24 classrooms (including smart classrooms). The smart classrooms are furnished with highly mobile learning stations designed to support different learning modes, and new laboratories significantly expand the space available for experiments and practical applications.

The new facility has been designed in accordance with the College of Engineering’s commitment to hands-on learning across the engineering disciplines. Features that have been integrated to improve the student experience include the following:

• interactive smart screens
• a lecture capture system
• room management systems that display important class information
• a smart lighting system
•  an advanced audio-visual system capable of adapting to future smart technologies

According to the Acting Dean of the AUS College of Engineering, Dr. Naif Darwish, the new building will considerably enhance the already high quality of learning available at the college. He says:

“We expect the new facilities to further enrich the engineering curriculum. Students will be able to make extensive use of these resources in their day-to-day learning, as well as when completing term projects, senior design projects or dissertations or theses. By having laboratories for different engineering disciplines in close proximity, students will have a truly multidisciplinary learning experience.”

In keeping with AUS’ commitment to environmental sustainability, the new building meets stringent environmental and sustainability standards. It has been developed in accordance with the requirements of the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council and ESTIDAMA Sustainability requirements, achieving 2 Pearl ESTIDAMA Certification. Environmental credentials of the new build include:

• All classrooms, laboratories and offices are illuminated throughout the day using natural light.
• An outdoor thermal comfort strategy is in place for the building’s surrounds, with landscaping and carefully selected planting providing shade and temperature control.
•  A system for recycling condensate water from the building’s air conditioning, reusing 1.2 liters of water per second.
• A high-frequency lighting system including LED lights and occupancy sensors.
• The use of non-polluting, eco-friendly and recycled material throughout.

The new expansion will also provide the necessary space for several ongoing and planned initiatives related to process safety, fire protection engineering, networking, high performance computations, robotics and drones.

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