High-Tech, Problem-Solving Research

Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), the nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) with 20 locations around the country, has no shortage of laboratories. However, what GTRI needs most are campuses with varying space types to accommodate consolidation of research projects, adjacencies of offices with research spaces, and room for future expansion and growth.

As part of the design-build team that planned and completed significant renovations within two of the existing buildings located on the 52-acre, former Lockheed Martin campus purchased by Georgia Tech, Flad designed a contiguous research community to support GTRI's immediate research endeavors and future growth.

Flad's work on the new Cobb County Research Facility South Campus included a full renovation of levels one through four in the four-story, purpose-built R&D facility. The programs include computational laboratories, electronics laboratories, associated office and conference spaces, renovation of an existing 241-seat auditorium to support large-scale events, and distributed employee break and social gathering areas. In addition, a significant portion within the high-bay warehouse was renovated to create individual high- and medium-bay assembly labs, with the ability to manipulate large- and medium-scale components that weigh as much as 30 tons. Both facilities support concurrent research initiatives, and the new combined capacity creates a comprehensive research community within this one complex with plenty of room to expand in the future.

GTRI's core competencies include test and evaluation, system development, engineering and prototyping, applied electromagnetics and materials research, secure information and communications systems, and threat systems research and development. GTRI also has a long history of solving complex problems in the areas of electronic warfare, modeling and simulation, materials, radar, sensors, optics, digital media, robotics and unmanned systems, cybersecurity, and aerospace technologies.