Industry News

Western Michigan University's new College of Engineering and Applied Sciences Research Building has been designed and engineered by HarleyEllis of Southfield, Mich. in collaboration with design consultant Rossetti Architects of Birmingham, Mich. It houses teaching, lab, and support spaces for the College's six departments. The $56-million, 350,000-sf facility is situated within the University's newly developed Business-Technology Research Park in Kalamazoo. The building is designed with three wings radiating from a central 'hub' that houses lecture halls and common areas.

Drew University commissioned Philadelphia-based A/E firm, Ewing Cole Cherry Brott to provide programming and schematic design services for the renovation and expansion of Seminary Hall, built in 1898. The building is the focal point of the Theological School. By renovating the existing structure and constructing a new addition, the new building program totaling 34,000 sf will include provisions for accessibility throughout the building, a large chapel space, seminar rooms, additional classrooms, preaching space, faculty offices, study/commuter lounge, and commons area.

The University of Pennsylvania has selected construction management firm R.M. Shoemaker Co. of West Conshohocken, Pa., to build Steinhardt Hall, the new Hillel Jewish Student Life Center on the campus of the University. Groundbreaking was scheduled for October 2001. The three-story, 35,000-sf facility will provide a new academic, cultural, and religious complex for the more than 6,000 Jewish students at the University. It will contain a kosher kitchen and 386-seat kosher dining room, a 320-seat auditorium, and a 174-seat Beit Midrash.

 The University of North Carolina-Charlotte has selected Perkins & Will to design a $23.1 million, 70,000-sf graduate research complex at the new Charlotte Institute for Technology Innovation; construction is scheduled to begin in fall 2002. A $26.1 million, 103,000-sf general classroom facility, designed by LS3P, will also commence construction at the same time.

The University of North Carolina-Charlotte began construction in July 2001 on a new 184,000-sf, $33.2-million Science and Technology building, part of a seven-building expansion of the 1.2 million-sf campus to a total of 2 million sf. At build-out, enrollment is expected to increase from the current 17,000 students to 25,000 students.