Located at the corner of Campus Drive and Hackberry Lane on the campus of the University of Alabama , Tuscaloosa , sits the most modern interdisciplinary science research and teaching facility in the Southeast United States . Shelby Hall, dedicated and named in honor of U.S. Senator Richard Shelby and his wife Dr. Annette Shelby, will provide a new home for the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Chemistry.

Completed in 2004, the Construction of this facility continued to draw considerable interest based on its size and beauty. Designed by the architectural firm of Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum (HO&K), the largest architectural firm in North America , and built by one of the leading General Contracting firm's in the Southeast, Batson-Cook, the centerpiece of the $50 million Shelby Hall complex is the rotunda, crowned with a dome rising 80 feet above its surroundings. The facility's design compliments the traditional architecture of the campus and evokes the memory of the original University plan from 1831.

The 200,000 square foot complex is the University of Alabama 's largest academic building, featuring a three story teaching wing and a four story research wing, designed to support research in transportation, geosciences, energy, biosciences, chemical sciences, and materials sciences. With 70 research labs, three theater-style lecture halls, 40 offices for faculty and professional staff, and 80 offices for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, students and faculty can move easily between classrooms and research areas.

The research wing is designed to support groups of scientists, often from different disciplines, working as a team. To allow for maximum flexibility, research labs and support labs in the new building are modular and arranged along corridors with faculty offices located across from them. Laboratory units are assembled into "laboratory neighborhoods," allowing for a variety of space assignments.

With five sections arranged as a pentagon, the building is designed to bring natural light into the research, teaching and administrative spaces. A central courtyard formed by the five interior sides of the "pentagon" is filled with an oval lawn and sitting areas. Access to the courtyard is through the rotunda, the two cores in the laboratory wings, and two open arches in the corners of the building. The lawn slopes down slightly toward the rotunda, to form an elevated podium for convocations and the events.

Through Draper & Associates continuing relationship with Batson-Cook on its premier projects, the firm was able to provide scheduling and consulting services throughout the life of the project. Draper's scope of services included development of an Overall Project Schedule and biweekly detailed near term schedules to monitor construction activities.