Campus location and construction
The Innovation Campus will eventually make its home on 3.5 acres in the 19-acre first phase of a new mixed-use development and innovation district in North Potomac Yard near the Potomac Yard-VT Metrorail Station. This strategic location, just south of Reagan National Airport, positions Virginia Tech and its future partners near the nation’s capital, diverse industries, and leading tech companies, including Amazon’s HQ2.
Construction of the first academic building, an 11-story, 300,000 square-foot structure, will open to students, faculty, and staff in spring 2025. It features a design centered on the principles of sustainability, health and wellness, green and social spaces, accessibility, connectivity, flexibility, and integrated technology.
When completed, the Academic 1 building will provide instruction, research, office, and support spaces for graduate-level programs in computer science and computer engineering, as well as select other programs. Experiential learning environments within this building will be designed to enhance the Virginia Tech experience including flexible multi-purpose areas, research and testing labs, and maker spaces.
Campus plans call for Virginia Tech to build two additional buildings, each about 150,000 square feet, as the campus grows.
Front of Building
Virtual Tour
View the Livestream of the Construction
Construction from 2021 to Now
2021
2022
2023
Innovation Campus HQ
Innovation Campus HQ is open at 3000 Potomac Avenue on the ground level – just a few blocks away from where our permanent campus will be located in North Potomac Yard. The 5,700-square-foot headquarters houses a variety of unique elements, from individual office spaces for campus leader to flexible open areas that can be reconfigured for multiple uses.
A key feature of the Innovation HQ is a work cafe, which has booths and tables for individual or group work and a long bar table facing the first-floor windows.
Rooms for small group meetings, also called huddle rooms, and a few conference spaces and traditional offices round out the headquarters. There also are lockers that can be assigned temporarily or long-term for individual storage.
Virginia Tech is leasing the HQ space while the permanent campus is built.
The Innovation Campus HQ, also designed by SmithGroup, was recently recognized by Inform Magazine, which said the space is "shaping up to be Virginia Tech's best foot forward: airy, light-filled, graphically bold, and 'lightly' programmed in an approach that’s become more and more common at the vanguard of working and learning spaces."