A few years ago, Columbia College in Missouri had a small maintenance garage that wasn’t adding much value. Today, it’s the Gaming Hut, the nexus of Columbia’s esports program, part of a trend on many campuses that’s getting video gamers out of their dorm rooms and into a world of collaboration, competition, and learning. An esports facility is “a perfect example of a small space being reclaimed, a social space with performance and practice areas,” explains Chris Chivetta, president of Hastings+Chivetta Architects, which has worked on a number of these projects.

A public hospital in the Midwest was in the process of designing a new 12-story high-acuity ICU tower when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. They witnessed their colleagues in hospitals across the country struggling to accommodate the surge of patients who needed isolation units in facilities that were not designed for them, forcing them to shutter the revenue-generating general medicine practice in the rest of the hospital. So the Midwest hospital pivoted. They reassessed design options for the top two floors to serve as dedicated isolation/surge floors, when needed, without disrupting the operations in the rest of the building.

Duke University is laying claim to the future with a new $115 million engineering facility, the Wilkinson Building. The flexible, adaptable structure was completed in November 2020, and opened for students and researchers in January. Space for engineering education and research expands with 150,000 gsf on five levels. That translates into a 25 percent increase in the university’s engineering footprint and 50 percent more teaching and student program space for engineering.

Designing facilities for student retention means designing for student success. It also means designing for a diverse student body. Whether it’s a freshman who isn’t faring well in his first semester of chemistry; a student who has just had her professional aspirations dashed by a faltering economy and could benefit from a fresh round of career counseling; or a budget-minded commuter student who needs a microwave to warm up dinner brought from home—today’s colleges and universities are increasingly expected to support the entire student experience.

The life sciences sector is experiencing an era of unprecedented growth driven by a surge in both public and private funding combined with a post-pandemic sense of urgency and market opportunity. According to a report released by Newmark in January 2021, more than 36 million sf of new construction is expected to be delivered in the nation’s top 14 life science markets, as life science investments more than triple. While demand for life science and biotech facilities has been growing steadily over the past decade, the COVID-19 crisis heightened national awareness around the need for increased research, diagnostic, and domestic manufacturing capabilities. Investors are also seeing significant potential in the future of personalized medicine, genomics, and other life science-related fields, as emerging technologies and research disciplines converge.