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At the University of Minnesota, a renovation/construction project to add science space required detailed integration with the campus district plan, as well as preservation of historic features. The result was enhanced physical connectivity on campus, a careful blending of older and new construction, and improved energy performance. Tate Hall is one of 260 structures on the main Twin Cities campus, which is so large that planners have divided it into districts for planning purposes. The urban campus straddles the Mississippi River, and Tate, a horseshoe-shaped building first constructed in 1926, sat largely empty, as most of the physics department had recently moved to a new research building.

Innovation hubs and incubators are emerging as the best solution to help universities, entrepreneurs, researchers, and students transform their creative ideas into viable commercial ventures. Users want facilities that focus on entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation; foster interdisciplinary collaboration and partnerships; offer responsive and flexible spaces; create a spirit of ground-up innovation; support commercialization of ideas/products; and connect to nearby universities, companies, and amenities.

The Physical Sciences Building (PSB) is a new research laboratory for the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The 95,000-gsf facility supports scientific discovery in the fields of materials science, condensed matter and nuclear physics, and organic and inorganic chemistry. It contains state-of-the-art high bay physics research labs, synthetic chemistry research labs, extensive core support labs, offices, student work areas, and collaboration space. Housing 20 faculty-led research groups with a total of 130 bench positions, the PSB is a pivotal part of the school’s Comprehensive Science and Engineering Master Plan.

Determining whether to build a new STEM facility or to renovate an existing building requires weighing multiple factors: budget, project cost and duration, whether the current building has “good bones,” availability of swing space, how the building fits into a strategic plan, and historic and cultural considerations, not to mention project-specific items like the need for a vivarium or maker space or even the requirement to work around a historic Cherokee earthen mound.

Universities and businesses have worked together for decades. Today, changes in funding and in STEM career paths have made those partnerships more attractive than ever—so attractive, in fact, that many institutions are planning new spaces specifically for them. With limits on government funding in recent years, and state and local funding stagnant, many institutions are seeing 25 to 30 percent of their research funding coming from outside sources, primarily private industry. That has led to more elaborate and specific consideration of industry partnerships as a part of strategic planning.