Klaus Advanced Computing Building

Klaus Advanced Computing Building
The Klaus Advanced Computing Building, as seen from the southeast
General information
Type	Academic
Location	Atlanta, Georgia
Address	266 Ferst Dr Atlanta, GA 30313
Owner	University System of Georgia
Technical details
Floor count	3
Floor area	414,000 square feet (38,500 m2)
Awards and prizes	Gold LEED Cert.

The Christopher W. Klaus Advanced Computing Building is a three-story academic building at the Georgia Institute of Technology that houses a portion of its College of Computing, College of Engineering, and related programs.

In 2000, the building was financed by a $15 million donation from successful internet entrepreneur and former Georgia Tech student Chris Klaus. Klaus was a founder of both Kaneva and Internet Security Systems. At the time of Klaus' contribution, it was the fifth-largest contribution by an individual in Georgia Tech's history. Klaus was 26 when he made the donation.

Architect Perkins+Will was selected. The site of the old Health Center was selected for the new computing building's location, and a new $7.1 million Health Center was built near the Georgia Tech Campus Recreation Center to free up that land. The Health Center faculty were then moved to the new facility in March 2003. Construction was initially planned to start in Summer 2003, but there was some difficulty in the ownership of the many parcels that the site encompassed. Several were of uncertain ownership, and Georgia Tech had to verify that it owned every part of the site before the Georgia Board of Regents would allow construction to proceed.

"[I]f you look at some old maps, way, way back when [Tech] was just a few buildings, these [parcels] were all home sites... Before the Board of Regents will allow anyone to build on a site, they have to have the deed in hand and know that the property belongs to the Board of Regents... That was a major, major issue for us... [W]e literally had to go through [each parcel] with the city and everybody else trying to reconcile who’s the owner."

Construction bids were set in December 2003, and the winning contractor was scheduled to begin in early January. General contractors WG Yates & Sons Construction received permission from the state to occupy the site in February 2004. From that date, the project was expected to take two years to complete.