When completed, the entire Avaya complex will cover 2.1 million sf, the largest commercial building under one roof in Colorado. The latest addition, scheduled for completion by month's end, is the largest of Avaya's research and development facilities. Avaya had spun off from Lucent Technologies Inc. last fall.

The cost of the addition, including some renovations to the existing facility, is estimated at $148 million, making it one of the largest private construction jobs along the Front Range.About 1,200 researchers, software developers and engineers work in the facility. Swinerton & Walbert Construction Management are building the complex.

The most distinctive feature, which is visible for miles, is a 330-foot-wide, glass-concave dish above a giant atrium. Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo Associates of Hampden, CT, has designed the complex. It also had used the giant glass, which looks like a microwave dish, on a Lucent building in Lisle, IL, a suburb about 30 miles west of Chicago.