Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons

The G. Wayne Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons (Clough Commons), commonly referred to by its acronym CULC, is an academic building on the main campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology. The five-story, 220,000 sq ft (20,000 m²) building houses classrooms, science laboratories, academic services, and common areas and is managed by and connected to the Georgia Tech Library. Named in honor of President Emeritus G. Wayne Clough, the Clough Commons cost $85 million and opened in the fall of 2011.

The building serves as an interdisciplinary facility to encourage collaboration and technologically enhanced teaching and learning. The Clough Commons, which was built with LEED certification in mind, contains various sustainability features and a roof garden, demonstrating Georgia Tech's commitment to sustainable design. In August 2012, the building, staged as a building within Googleplex, was a major piece of the set of the 2013 film The Internship.

The Clough Commons, which had been in the works for more than 10 years, was developed in response to the growth of Georgia Tech's student body. Fundraising for the new facility was nearly complete when the request to name it after then-Institute President G. Wayne Clough was made in June 2008. Plans for a new facility began during the early years of Clough's tenure as president. Over the next decade of his presidency, it became Georgia Tech's highest capital priority due to rapid student body growth. The naming of the Clough Commons was an effort by Campaign Georgia Tech, the institute's fundraising arm, to honor Clough's commitment to undergraduate education and to ensure future students know and appreciate the Clough legacy.

The Clough Commons is financed through a combination of private and public funding. It cost $93.7 million to build and outfit, of which the State of Georgia provided $60 million. As part of the private funding component, an anonymous donor matched dollar-for-dollar all gifts and commitments for the Clough Commons up to a maximum of $8.75 million.

Facility programming for the Clough Commons was completed by Perry Dean Rogers Architects and Houser Walker Architecture. Bohlin Cywinski Jackson was selected to design the project. The formal groundbreaking took place on April 5, 2010, with Clough, Institute President G. P. "Bud" Peterson and University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll B. Davis present.

Construction of the building was undertaken by Turner Construction and completed in August 2011. It opened for the first time to the Georgia Tech community on August 20, 2011.

The Clough Commons is located on a slope between Tech Green and the Library, providing views of green space and the Kessler Campanile. The site was previously a parking lot. The building is physically connected to the Library on two levels. The Library is responsible for the physical management of the Clough Commons.

The Clough Commons aims to enhance cross-disciplinary education by providing a common meeting space for students from different disciplines. It is open 24 hours a day, almost every day of the year. The five-story building offers 220,000 square feet (20,000 m²) of floor space, including a large number of common spaces with 2,100 seats, group study rooms and a central glass atrium.