Sven Shockey, FAIA joins Evan and Cormac to talk about Virginia Tech Academic Building One — a 300,000-square-foot computer science and computer engineering building on a new campus in Alexandria, Virginia whose faceted, photovoltaic-integrated form was derived through 1,400 computational iterations. They explore what it means to design a building's exterior before the interior program is finalized, how three distinct types of building-integrated photovoltaics get assigned to 17 different facades based on orientation and performance data, and what a sewage wastewater energy exchange system has to do with a tunnel under a parking lot.

This episode is especially relevant for design architects and architecture students who want to understand how computational tools actually interact with design judgment — and for anyone who's ever wondered what it looks and feels like to sit inside a building where the facade is doing real work. The shadows move. The light is soft. The algorithm found a non-intuitive answer, and then the real design work began.

Guest

• Sven Shockey on LinkedIn
• Sven Shockey at SmithGroup

SmithGroup

• SmithGroup website
• SmithGroup on LinkedIn
• SmithGroup on Instagram

Virginia Tech Academic Building One

• Project page — SmithGroup
• Virginia Tech Innovation Campus
• First building nears completion — Virginia Tech News
• Alumnus plays large role in designing the campus — Virginia Tech News
• Virginia Tech's Striking New Building Pays Homage to the Sun — Interior Design
• Virginia Tech Innovation Campus Academic 1 Building — Architect Magazine
• A Window to the Future — Inform Magazine
• Design centers on sustainability & connectivity — SmithGroup (2020)
• First building nears completion — SmithGroup (2024)

Awards

• Interior Design Best of Year 2025 — Dual Honors
• AIA Virginia 2025 Design Awards

Context: Virginia Tech & Amazon HQ2

• Virginia Tech Innovation Campus key to attracting Amazon HQ2 — Virginia Tech News

Related Work: DC Water Headquarters

• DC Water Headquarters — SmithGroup
• Putting Wastewater to Work — SmithGroup Perspectives
• DC Water HQ earns LEED Platinum — DC Water SmithGroup

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