UW breaks ground on state-of-the-art math and computing building

The University of Waterloo continues to position itself as a world leader in mathematics and computer technology research with the construction of a fourth math building.

Mathematics 4 (M4) will be a five-storey, 120,000-square-foot facility that will feature four research labs, numerous purpose-built common spaces and several innovations designed to inspire and promote collaboration.

At the heart of M4 will be The Green Room, it will power large-scale computations across the mathematics and computer science faculty while at the same time, serving as a research lab for work looking into reducing the amount of energy needed to power things like artificial intelligence.

Mark Giesbrecht, Dean, Faculty of Mathematics said The Green Room will also have another important job.

“It will also serve as the heating for the building and will be able to pump excess heat from the computers which generate a lot,” he said.

“We were imagining a place that would be as carbon neutral or as electricity efficient as possible. And also to facilitate research into low-power computing. Right now we’re looking two, three, four, five percent of electricity being used for things like ChatGPT.”

Another exciting feature will be the “polymorphic classroom.” It’s a space designed to convert from a lecture hall-style room to a collaborative space for group work. It will feature wall-to-wall whiteboards, screens, integrated cameras, video and immersive audio.

Giesbrecht said an exciting aspect of the polymorphic classroom is how it will be used for outreach for elementary and high school students.

He believes it will take around two and a half years to complete construction, guessing students will be in the facility in early or mid-2027.