Industry News

The Smithsonian Institution has awarded Hensel Phelps Construction of Greeley, Colo., the $22-million contract for the first phase of the Patent Office Building renovation project. Construction on the Patent Office Building, which houses the American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, began in May 2003. The project includes demolition and installation of underground utilities.

SLM Corp., known as Sallie Mae or Student Loan Marketing Association, broke ground on its new nine-story headquarters in Reston on April 29, 2003. The 240,000-sf facility was designed by Boggs & Partners and WDG Architects. The $40-million facility is slated for occupancy in July 2004. The highlight of the building is the “tower of learning”, a lighted glass staircase extending to all nine floors of the structure.

West Virginia University has recently completed the Life Sciences Building (LSB), a consolidated facility housing the biology and psychology departments. At 200,000-sf, the LSB is the largest structure on the school's Morgantown campus and is the first facility in the long-range master plan developing the site of the university’s former football stadium and defining a new campus edge.

Oberlin College has completed construction of its new Science Center in Oberlin, Ohio. Replacing the Kettering Science Building built in the 1960s, the new facility is a planned village of appropriately scaled buildings around a unifying “science lawn”. The Science Center houses teaching and research space for biology, chemistry, neuroscience and physics, as well as a new science library, shared lecture halls, and a common area.

The University of Texas Southwest Medical Center is engaged in the demolition and renovation of 24,000 sf of advanced cell biology workspace in Dallas. Omniplan Architects of Dallas designed the project, which will be completed by contractor McCarthy in two distinct phases.