Construction Cost

Every new building is a gamble on the future, but some are bigger bets than others. These days, one of the highest-stakes wagers campus planners must make is how much to upgrade their high-performance facilities to meet tomorrow’s demand. It isn’t an easy call. Once relegated to distant basements, computer labs are now being built right in the heart of campus, a reflection of their ever-growing importance. With the number of majors that utilize high-performance computing expected to rise nationally by the end of the decade and the growing importance of cutting-edge supercomputers in recruiting the very best scholars, the overall direction is clear. But a lot can go wrong, which makes planning tomorrow’s high- performance computing facilities today very complicated and potentially risky.

Facing the mandate to grow university research expenditures to $1 billion by 2028, Arizona State University’s (ASU) Research Space Planning group was charged with determining how much lab space would be required to meet that goal and what the cost would be. Under the leadership of senior director Erik Halle, the planning group engaged in a multi-stage process analyzing utilization and cost data, benchmarking, and incorporating user feedback to arrive at the answer.  Introducing new practices like improved lab-to-gross-square-foot ratios and the recovery of underutilized space, among other measures, culminated in meeting the $1 billion target almost three years early without additional construction.

An overall trend toward lower admission rates, paired with a rise in online learning, is leading many universities to question whether they are carrying excess classroom and research space. Undergraduate enrollment at U.S. universities fell by almost 15% between 2012 and 2022, and studies suggest that this number could continue to drop each year by as much as 100,000, perhaps more if international students do not return to U.S.-based programs. A study published by Inside Higher Education states that “if the U.S. lost 15% of its international student population, a substantial number of colleges could experience financial repercussions.” The actual number is higher. Using 2022 enrollment statistics, Vermeulens, a construction economist firm, estimates that as much as 38 million sf of existing higher ed academic classroom and lab space could be unnecessary or would be better off repurposed.

The ideal lab building can flex over time to accommodate each new generation of researchers, with minimal disruption and infrastructure change. Using an approach called the “resilient chassis,” labs are grouped by typologies and placed around a common spine or “chassis” of mechanical/electrical/plumbing (MEP) systems based on zoning and capacity needs. The best location for each lab is determined by grouping labs together that share specialized requirements, such as vibration sensitivities, noise restrictions, lighting or electrical requirements, and instrumentation needs. 

More and more universities are building their scientific research centers around cores of huge, heavy, yet surprisingly delicate equipment. Building a core laboratory facility forces architects and campus planners to think about logistics, timing, and backup systems to a level of detail probably more familiar to NASA engineers than institutional architects. As the team behind Emory University’s new Health Sciences Research Building II (HSRB-II) learned, a huge range of factors—in their case, everything from the amount of rebar in the flooring to the width of the corridors to shipping velocity on the Suez Canal—must be reckoned with before such a facility is completed.

SAC Health opened the Brier Campus in September of 2025 in San Bernardino, Calif. Designed by Perkins&Will, the $85 million outpatient facility is expected to accommodate 300,000 patient visits over the next five years to address regional health disparities. The five-story structure provides comprehensive primary care and specialty services, including internal medicine, pediatrics, orthopedics, dentistry, family medicine, ophthalmology, and women’s health.

Mass timber construction is widely lauded for its sustainability benefits, including wood’s natural carbon sequestration, lower embodied energy footprint, lighter weight compared to steel or concrete, and essential renewability. But does it pay off in terms of a university’s performance standards and cost concerns when embarking on a project as ambitious as Oregon State University’s Jen-Hsun and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex, a $213 million, 143,000-sf facility dedicated to advanced programs in artificial intelligence, robotics, energy, and materials science? Scott Ashford, OSU’s dean of the College of Engineering, and Libby Ramirez, the university’s resident architect, argue that with careful strategy and an eye toward the data, the answer is “yes.”

UC Davis Health opened the $182 million Folsom Medical Care Clinic in August of 2025 to elevate community health outcomes across the Sierra Foothills region of California. Consolidating three existing local facilities, the 114,000-sf building offers primary and specialty care, including pediatric and family medicine as well as cardiology, neurology, hematology, and other disciplines. The three-story structure also accommodates new services for cancer patients.

Mass timber construction is widely lauded for its sustainability benefits, including wood’s natural carbon sequestration, lower embodied energy footprint, lighter weight as compared to steel or concrete, and essential renewability. But does it pay off in terms of a university’s performance standards and cost concerns when embarking on a project as ambitious as Oregon State University’s Jen-Hsun and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex, a $213 million, 143,000-sf facility dedicated to advanced programs in artificial intelligence, robotics, energy, and materials science? Scott Ashford, OSU’s dean of the College of Engineering, and Libby Ramirez, the university’s resident architect, argue that with careful strategy and an eye toward the data, the answer is “yes.”

How did the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) convert two century-old industrial buildings --  a former Model T Ford assembly line and the manufacturing plant where the instant camera was invented for Polaroid -- into Class A research space? They accomplished it for the same cost as new construction but in less time, with a much smaller carbon footprint, and the blessing of their neighbors.

The 350,000-sf Duan Family Center for Computing & Data Sciences at Boston University (BU) brings 3,000 students, faculty, and staff together daily inside a LEED platinum-certified 19-story structure that sits at the heart of the university’s main campus. By replacing most of the building’s Portland cement with other supplementary cementitious materials, installing triple-glazed windows and fins to reduce the solar load, and heating and cooling the building with geothermal boreholes paired with active chilled beams, the project team created one of the largest sustainable and operationally fossil-fuel-free buildings in Boston.

The New York Center for Research, Economic Advancement, Technology, Engineering, and Science (NY CREATES) is constructing the $614 million NanoFab Reflection (NFR) facility in Albany, N.Y. Representing an expansion of the existing Albany NanoTech Complex, the four-story, 310,000-sf R&D building will feature a 50,000-sf ISO 5 cleanroom, complemented by approximately 50,000 sf of non-clean sub-fab space.

The University of Rochester Medical Center has repurposed a suburban retail center as the Saunders Orthopaedics & Physical Performance Center in Henrietta, New York. Designed by Perkins&Will and SLAM, the adaptive reuse project transformed the Marketplace Mall into a 372,400-sf healthcare destination. The renovation of 227,000 sf of existing space involved significant upgrades to building systems, minimizing vibration impacts to diagnostic imaging equipment and robotic-assisted surgical procedures.

In the 12 years between the conception and funding of Thurgood Marshall Hall and when an architect was hired to design it, the University of Maryland had added four research centers with 40 faculty and staff, creating a 20% shortfall in space and funding. Then at 60% construction drawings, the School of Public Policy added an undergraduate program. Learn how the university made creative use of every available corner of the new building to provide the program the students and faculty require.

The University of North Dakota was ready to build a new facility for its business and public administration students. They had a significant donor on board to help, but how to make up the rest of the budget? The answer, it turned out, was to engage donors not just in the funding, but in the design and function of the building, and incorporate their ideas into its fabric.