and I will bet that this is being built with limited funds. It houses research and the state will only fund 50% max of a project if it includes research. This project is likely 100% internally funded and money is tight and construction costs have skyrocketed. I managed a similar project for VCU at the Rice Center several years ago. The researchers raised all of the money and wanted the money spent on the inside of the building, not fancy architecture. In the end we built a good looking building that is appropriate for its context and that's what this looks like. This may sound sacrilegious but you can overdo Hokie Stone.