Carnegie Mellon University is quickening its pace of development and plans for the future.

The Pittsburgh Mastermind group heard from leaders who head up plans for design and facilities at the university, which enrolls about 13,000 students in the city’s Oakland neighborhood.

“What we’ve seen in the last decade is the biggest burst of activity since the campus was built,” said Bob Reppe, senior director of planning and design for Carnegie Mellon, founded in 1900 by industrialist Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools.

Carnegie Mellon has famously been the seat of hundreds of start-ups, either at the university or by graduates. Duolingo, Modcloth, and the robotics firm Bossa Nova are among the hundreds of companies that spun out of CMU or are linked to graduates.

And there’s more: A maker space opened in Hamberschlag Hall earlier this year and the first tenants for Advanced Robotics Manufacturing Institute will move in at the Almono site in Hazelwood next year. ANSYS Hall, which will enable students to envision a product and produce it under one building, also opens next year.

One goal is to bring students from many disciplines together on campus.
“I think one of the strengths of Carnegie Mellon is that all of this powerhouse thinking goes on in this tight little circle,” said Ralph Horgan, associate vice president of campus design and facilities development.