Higher Education

Thomas Jefferson University’s planned $140-million Kimmel Cancer Center, a cancer treatment and research center, will be postponed for one year as the university raises funds for the project and searches for a solution to a potentially critical parking situation envisioned when a 400-car parking garage is demolished to make way for the new center.  The planned 380,000-sf structure, designed by the architectural firm of Perkins & Will of Chicago, will reach 20 stories and include underground parking spaces for 200 cars.

St. Mary's College will dedicate its new state-of-the-art, $25 million J.C. Gatehouse science center in early October. Special features of the 57,000-sf facility, designed by Ratcliff Associates of Emeryville, Calif., include the latest audio visual technology, with students at their workstations using laptops provided by the school; and research labs adjacent to the classrooms to foster student/professor interaction.

University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio has broken ground on the first of three planned Regional Academic Health Centers. The Medical Education division of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Regional Academic Health Center is scheduled for completion by mid-2002. The Health Science Center will operate the new division.

Loras College has plans for a new 85,000-sf Academic Resource Center. The four-story facility will house the library, a tutorial center for writing and math, a learning disabilities center, reading rooms, coffee shop and a Barnes & Noble book store. A 3,000-sf exhibition space will be open to the public and features a rare books collection and a display of Dubuque history and archives. Data ports will be installed throughout the entire center for laptop users.

Boston University (BU) has expanded its on-campus housing with apartment-style suites that will accommodate 800 students. The new building is the first at the university's Student Village complex, which is located on 10 acres at the former Commonwealth Armory site. BU provides campus housing for over 10,000 students.

Iowa State University has selected Sasaki Associates of Watertown, Mass., and Baldwin White Architects of Des Moines, Iowa, for the design of the Union Drive Neighborhood at the University. A 1,200-bed residence hall will be renovated and three new 320-bed facilities will be constructed. Dining facilities for 875 people will be accommodated in a new 45,000-sf community building. In addition, computer labs, meeting rooms, a post office, game room, demonstration bakery, 75-seat café, and private dining facilities will be included in the project.

Johns Hopkins University recently dedicated the new 50,000-gsf Academic and Research Building for its Montgomery County campus at the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center in Rockville. The three-story structure features state-of-the-art research and education facilities: four computer labs; 22 "smart" classrooms configured for video conferencing, multimedia presentations, and high-speed transmission of large databases; a coffee house; a bookstore; and student meeting spaces.

Kutztown University has plans to renovate and expand its science teaching facilities. The Pennsylvania Department of General Services has contracted with STV Architects to design the $14 million Kutztown University Science Center. The Boehm and Grim Science Buildings will undergo renovation and a 70,000-sf addition to the Boehm building will be constructed. The center will accommodate and promote new technologies and will encompass the biology, chemistry, marine science, physics, geography, geology, physical science, and astronomy departments.

University of California, Berkeley, has plans for a new $85 million, 240,000-sf interdisciplinary science research building to replace the seismically unsafe Stanley Hall. The state-of-the-art structure will house teaching labs and support functions for many disciplines: structural biology, bioengineering, chemical biology, computation and theoretical biology, and magnetic imaging. The architect for the project will be Portland, Ore.-based Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership.

University of Maryland, Baltimore County, has selected Boston-based Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architecture & Engineering, P.E. (EYP), to renovate the 137,000-sf undergraduate Chemistry/Biochemistry Building. The renovation will increase the number and quality of teaching and research labs, and provide departmental and faculty offices, lab support areas, and interaction areas for students and faculty.

Mount Holyoke College, as part of its new master plan, will transform its 19th-century gymnasium building into the campus hub for student life. Miller Dyer Spears, based in Boston, is designing the three-story Blanchard Campus Center. While preserving the historic character of the structure, a coffee bar, cybercafe, gameroom, art gallery, college store, mailroom, info center, and student lounges will be featured on the main level. A two-story addition will expand dining capacity to 350 seats and will double as a large performance and events space.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Office of Real Estate has plans for a $46-million, 185,000-sf building at a 7.5-acre site in Cambridge next to MIT and Technology Square. The project will gut an historic 1830s 135,000-sf building and build a new five-story, 50,000-sf adjacent structure with plans to lease the entire lab/office facility to a biotechnology company. Surface parking for 272 vehicles is included in the plan. Completion is anticipated in 2002. The project construction manager is Barr & Barr.

Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, housed in a state-of-the-art  instruction facility in a former streetcar repair building called the Car Barn, now has plans for a new $55-million, 200,000-sf business school building. The structure, part of the university master plan, will accommodate undergraduate and graduate students, non-degree executive development students, and offices for the faculty. The university expects to begin a three-year construction project in September on a large dormitory complex.

Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering broke ground in May 2000 for its new high-tech campus on a 70-acre site in Needham. Phase one construction, slated for completion in fall 2001, will include a classroom/laboratory building, a student center, administrative building, and residence hall. Phase two will encompass four additional structures--a lab building and three residence halls--to be completed at a later date.

Harvard Medical School has plans for a new $250 million, 435,000-sf research building on a 3.3-acre site in Boston. The structure will house biomedical labs, accessory offices, and related animal facilities in 409,000 sf of space. An auditorium/cafeteria and building amenities will be housed in an additional 26,000 sf. The estimated completion date is the second quarter of 2003.