Purdue University Academic Success Building

Purdue University’s new downtown campus in Indianapolis features a 16-story, mixed-use building that includes classrooms, lab space, student housing, dining, and street-level retail. As the first facility on the campus, it will provide four levels of academic space with classrooms, chemistry labs, maker spaces, and retail offerings, alongside 11 residential levels accommodating up to 500 students, plus a mechanical penthouse. Plans also include a dining area with up to 400 seats and a large gathering space for community and student engagement.

Designed to evolve with the needs of experiential education, the facility will support project-based learning opportunities, including K-12 STEM enrichment programs offered during nights, weekends, and summer through residential and non-residential experiences. The program will feature STEM wet/dry teaching labs, active learning classrooms, flexible workspaces, collaboration areas, dining and retail spaces, café and coffee shop, community rooms, industry partnership spaces, and campus support areas.

HEAPY was a partner for the study and is now providing mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection design services for this transformative project, which extends Purdue’s mission of higher education at scale. The building is part of the Hard-Tech Corridor, a 65-mile innovation-driven development connecting Indianapolis to Purdue’s flagship West Lafayette campus, with the LEAP Innovation District serving as a central hub. This new urban campus positions Purdue at the forefront of academic and technological advancement while fostering industry collaboration and community engagement.