Project Report

University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Architecture | Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

The recent expansion of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Architecture delivers a striking addition defined by material clarity, daylight performance, and low-carbon construction. Designed by NADAAA with HDR as architect of record, the project re-imagines the existing historic complex by repurposing the underutilized 1985 Link Building as a structural anchor, allowing old and new to merge without erasure. This award-winning project was recognized by Architectural Record Editors’ Top 10 Projects from 2024 as well as Archello’s Jury winner for University Building of the Year 2025 and Low-Carbon Building of the Year 2025.

The architects focused on clearly expressing the building’s hybrid structure, which combines prefabricated mass timber—including cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam—with selective steel elements. The mass-timber system is renewable, locally sourced, and sequesters carbon, reinforcing the project’s environmental ambitions. To complement this structure, the design team turned to Kalwall’s translucent insulated panel system to articulate the long north façade.

Inspired by RISD’s Sculpture Building in Providence, RI—where an entire façade is composed of Kalwall—NADAAA proposed the decades-proven system as a cost-effective and architecturally expressive solution. Kalwall’s “one system fits all” approach replaces the complexity of conventional stud walls, insulation, vapor barriers, gypsum board, and exterior cladding, significantly reducing installation time and trade coordination while integrating structure, insulation, and enclosure into a single prefabricated system.

While Kalwall already had precedent on campus in the form of skylights, its application at UNL is notably ambitious. The upper three levels feature a multidirectional, splayed running-bond pattern of 12-by-17-foot panels, punctuated by 2-foot-wide, full-height windows that frame east-facing views toward the museum and westward views of the stadium promenade. At ground level, the façade opens onto a fabrication court defined by exposed timber columns and diagonal bracing, with a bold, dark entrance element introducing a welcoming north entry previously absent from the building.

By day, the Kalwall façade delivers soft, glare-free daylight deep into studio spaces. By night, it becomes a luminous lantern, offering glimpses of the timber structure and the activity within. For an architecture school, the backlit translucent skin does more than enclose space—it reveals process, structure, and student dedication, embodying the very principles the building is designed to teach.