Industry News

The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is engaged in a $126-million renovation and expansion of the IST High Bay Building. Located on the north side of the building, the 31,000-gsf addition will house Department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Ultrafast Optical Science lab and office space, as well as research space for the Department of Materials Science. Consisting of a basement, two main floors and a mechanical penthouse with all new equipment, the addition will be powered by a new electrical substation to relieve the existing loads of the High Bay Building’s substation.

San Diego City College and Hewlett Packard are developing a $100,000 wireless mobile classroom. The computer lab will house 35 Hewlett Packard notebook computers, a combined printer-scanner-copier-fax machine and a digital camera.

Synygy, an employee benefits compensation programming and software company, has commissioned Syska Hennessy Group to design new mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems as well as the acoustics, audiovisual, telecommunications, and lighting for a new corporate headquarters. The 163,500-sf tenant fit-out projects is being undertaken in the historically significant Chester Station in Chester, Pa. The building is one of the best-preserved and most monumental early power plants in the U.S. dating back to 1917.

Fairfax-based Lorton Arts Foundation has submitted a proposal to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to redevelop the 41.4-acre former Lorton prison site as a community arts, education and cultural center. Centerbrook Architects of Centerbrook, Conn., designed the proposed Lorton Workhouse Arts Center, which would include galleries, event space, offices, artist studios, theatrical and production areas, heritage exhibits, and an outdoor music shed.

Northwestern University is developing Phase One of the Gladys & Arthur Pancoe Life Sciences Pavilion, a new 88,000-sf research facility housing the Center for Experimental Animal Research on the university's Evanston campus. The project will accommodate research for the University and Northwestern Healthcare’s Evanston Hospital. Designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership of Los Angeles, the four-story building with basement will house flexible research labs, faculty offices, vivarium, auditorium, and a café.