Plans for the 160,246-sq-ft Physical Sciences Complex were updated dramatically late in the design process when a $10-million grant was received from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. NIST is one of several entities that benefit from academic research at the $100-million complex, along with the University of Maryland's physics and astronomy departments, the National Institutes of Health, Institute for Physical Science and Technology, the Joint Space Institute and the Joint Quantum Institute.

The NIST grant required additional lab space to be included in the facility. The revised project design was approximately 10% over budget because the new design reflected significant cost increases. Gilbane, UMD and HDR analyzed each building system in order to bring the project back to budget while maintaining the grant's requirements. Based on this analysis, the team selected post-tension for the structure, caissons for the foundation and bracketed piles for the excavation. The building's exterior was redesigned to meet the university's budget while preserving the aesthetic appearance the design architect envisioned.