U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry helped break ground this week on a new research facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the 100,000-square-foot Translational Research Capability Facility took place on Tuesday with Perry and U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann in attendance.

The facility will be built specifically for research in computing, materials science and quantum-information science. Its flexible space is intended to encourage collaboration among researchers.

Perry said the facility will be a place for scientists, researchers, engineers and innovators to “take on big challenges and deliver transformative solutions.”

The estimated $95 million construction is supported by the Science Laboratory Infrastructure program of the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.