Industry News

Indian School of Business is under construction in Hyderabad, the "Silicon Valley" of India. The campus encompasses 660,000 sf and is located on 250 acres. Each classroom will be fully wired, with a computer and videoconferencing capability at each desk. The communications network will be set up to ensure instant global connectivity. The school will accommodate a large number of formal and informal break-out spaces. John Portman & Associates designed the school, which will be the first fully air-conditioned school in India.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Oakland Scientific Facility expected to take delivery of a $33 million IBM supercomputer in December 2000. The Oakland facility, a 75,000-sf former Wells Fargo Bank building, has undergone an $11 million retrofit including a new glass facade, seismic upgrades, a new cooling system, and special security devices. The computers will occupy rows of refrigerator-size cabinets that fill the building's first two floors. The project has been developed by Encinal Broadway, headed by Peter Wang.

Gene Logic, a gene research firm, plans to transform a 50,000-sf building that formerly served as a parcel package distribution center for FedEx, to state-of-the-art R&D lab space. The biotech company expects the new $5 million facility to be completed in approximately one year. The new structure will be located just a mile from the company's Gaithersburg headquarters.

The Veterans Administration has awarded a contract to LCOR Inc. of Berwyn, Pa., to develop a $150 million, 600,000-sf medical and research complex across the street from the Duke University Medical Center in Durham. The project will include 19,000 sf of primary care clinic space and 40,000 sf of medical and research space, plus retail and commercial space and parking on a 3.5-acre lot. As many as seven buildings are planned, with construction scheduled to begin in 2001.

Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications' business and technology division has broken ground on a new headquarters at the Valley Forge Corporate Center. The company will relocate approximately 400 employees working in the area to the new 136,000-sf office when it opens in August 2001.