Industry News

Columbia University has completed the preliminary design phase of its $45-million Earth Observatory on the Lamont-Doherty campus in Palisades, N.Y. The two-story, 63,000-sf facility will consolidate the geochemistry department of the university's Earth Institute and will house over 30 state-of-the-art sustainably designed laboratories and more than 70 offices. Designed by Payette Associates, the facility is expected to break ground in November 2006 and reach initial occupancy in November 2007. 

The University of Saskatchewan is initiating projects totaling between $460-million and $490-million on its Saskatoon campus. The $250-million Academic Health Sciences Center is currently in the design phase with construction to begin in 2007 and reach completion in 2010-2012. The seven-story facility will house an animal research facility and a BSL-2 laboratory. A second building will house a new school of public health, a library, meeting rooms, and a 500-seat lecture theater.

The University of Toronto Scarborough broke ground on a new interdisciplinary science building on March 28, 2006. Designed by Moriyama & Teshima Architects in association with Watson MacEwen Architects, the facility will provide space for dynamic collaboration in research and teaching in the environmental, physical, and life sciences.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory dedicated the $85 million Molecular Foundry in Berkeley, Calif. on March 24, 2006. Construction began on the six-story, 95,000-sf nanotechnology center in December of 2003. Designed by the architectural firm SmithGroup, the facility is one of five U.S. Department of Energy nanotechnology research centers.

Motorola has opened a new research and development center in the Binjiang district of the Hi-tech Industry Development Zone in Hangzhou, China. The facility will develop, test, and launch software and hardware for integration in consumer products.