Nanjing University is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher learning in China. Nanjing’s  College of Engineering and Applied Science building, which is located at the new Xianlin Campus in Nanjing, complements this status by providing an environment for world-renowned, international engineering education. With a goal of furthering the university's reputation as the “best in science,” HDR was hired to provide conceptual design services for the new facility. The building includes spaces for material science and engineering, quantum electronics and optical engineering, biomedical and bioengineering, and new energy science and engineering.