Factory of the Future Tops Out in Maine

Dubbed the Factory of the Future, The University of Maine GEM building recently topped out in Orono, Maine. The new, 60,000-square-foot building will serve as a research and education facility focused on advanced manufacturing, expanding the frontiers of large-format and AI-enabled arrays of additive manufacturing systems to create new markets for sustainable building materials. 

The mass timber framing is quickly taking shape: This construction method was selected by the planners at UMaine so that the building would display and celebrate forward-thinking uses of renewable building materials. Designed by Grimshaw with SMRT Architects & Engineers, the building is expected to be completed in the summer of 2026.