Modernization

Yale University is planning to renovate and expand the Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, Conn. Designed by Centerbrook Architects and Planners, the project will increase exhibition space by over 50 percent, as well as providing new labs and classrooms for collections-based programs. A four-story addition featuring fritted glass and bronzed aluminum framing will be constructed, creating a connection to the adjacent Environmental Science Center.

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.

The University of Edinburgh is initiating a £90 million renovation and expansion of the Darwin Laboratory Building to accommodate the School of Biological Sciences. Designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios to promote interdisciplinary collaboration, the project will include construction of two new laboratory buildings totaling 46,300 sf and a 21,500-sf hub providing meeting rooms, offices, and a café.

The College of Engineering, one of 15 colleges and schools at Cornell University, has 21 percent of the undergraduate population, 32 percent of the graduate population, and 10 percent of the square footage of the campus. As part of the college master plan, Upson Hall, originally built in the 1950s, and one of the largest buildings on the engineering quad, was in line for modernization. The plan called for improving energy efficiency, providing student and faculty collaborative space, and creating wet, hybrid, nano-, bio-, and chemical engineering labs. Since the building is well-located and structurally sound, with good floor-to-floor heights for labs, the decision was to renovate the existing structure, rather than undertake new construction. The project, a complete gut and renovation of the 160,000-gsf building, scheduled in two approximately year-long phases, was completed in August 2017.

UMass Memorial Medical Center is engaged in a multi-phase modernization initiative at its Worcester hospital campus. Upgrades to major public spaces have been completed, including a new atrium in the main pedestrian artery. Comprising 250,000 sf, the MC2020 modernization project was designed by The S/L/A/M Collaborative and is being built by Consigli Construction. The current phase involves upgrades to interior finishes and spaces including corridors, department entries, wayfinding graphics, and the chapel.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is planning a $75.4 million renovation and expansion of its engineering complex. Construction will begin in June of 2019 on the demolition and replacement of the Link, a 25,307-gsf structure connecting Scott Engineering Center to Nebraska Hall. Slated for completion in summer of 2022, the new 87,000-gsf facility will accommodate leading-edge research labs and support. A new mechanical tower will also be constructed.

Renovating an old science complex can be a cost-effective way to transform a 1970s relic into an education facility for the 21st century. The Gant Science Complex, built between 1970 and 1974 on the Storrs campus of the University of Connecticut, is big—285,000 sf—but outdated and environmentally inefficient, with an R value in the single digits. It also reflects old-fashioned science teaching and research methods, making it hard to enable the kind of collaborative learning used today.

The Pennsylvania State University celebrated the opening of the 93,500-sf Agricultural Engineering Building in June of 2018 in University Park. The $44 million project included a 16,000-sf renovation of the historical front section of the structure, demolition of the remainder of the building, and approximately 77,000 sf of new construction.

It started, not with a budget or a space, but with an idea. Today, that idea has become seven stories of collaborative lab space for cutting-edge genomic research, called the New York Genome Center (NYGC). It happened with the help of innovative solutions that allowed a team to repurpose ordinary office space in a select but heavily regulated neighborhood. The result is a large, flexible, and productive facility that brings together laboratories, conference areas, a data center, and clinical space to encourage innovation and discovery—all while achieving LEED Gold certification.

Kewaunee Scientific has partnered with international design studio Rainlight to create the CODA laboratory furniture benching system. CODA’s modular design offers adjustable height surfaces, moveable shelving, and integrated lighting, with companion tables available to complement the main system. With spans of up to 10 feet long between structural supports, CODA’s bench enables greater flexibility for lab layout.

Ivy Tech Community College will invest $43 million to renovate and expand facilities on two campuses. The $17.2 million Downtown North Building in Muncie will be constructed to accommodate the Culinary Arts program, which will feature a chocolates laboratory, a café, testing and assessment rooms, and student services. A $12.7 million upgrade of the Fisher Building will build out the fourth floor to house the School of Nursing and the School of Health Sciences, with teaching labs sited on a renovated basement level. A new south entrance will also be created.

Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) has mandated that Building Information Modeling (BIM) be implemented in the final phase of its $9 billion construction program. LACCD, which is the largest community college district in the United States and comprises nine colleges, is also targeting net-zero energy consumption in the sustainable development of its extensive portfolio.

What the university needs: A spacious, modern science building, with an additional 5,000 sf. What the university has: An old, dark, rather cramped classroom building, built for a different era in education, with inadequate systems, and no room to expand. It’s a common problem on university campuses, and in many cases solving it requires flexibility, creativity, and patience. At the University of Pittsburgh, Howard Skoke, AIA, of EwingCole Architects and Engineers and the university’s own Ilona Beresford worked together on a six-month master plan to devise a $65 million modernization. The project, scheduled to begin construction in May 2019, will open the building to new uses and adapt its systems for health and efficiency. At the same time, it will preserve a historic exterior and cost far less than a new building.

Prism Capital Partners is engaged in the redevelopment of the former Hoffmann-La Roche site in New Jersey to create the ON3 campus. Providing integrated research, office, and recreational facilities, the mixed-use campus currently houses a 73,000-sf laboratory building partially leased by biofabrication firm Modern Meadow, with plans for the construction of an adjacent pilot manufacturing plant under way.

Georgia Tech is engaged in a renewal of Prince Gilbert Library in Atlanta. Designed by Praxis 3 to provide sophisticated physical and digital spaces for students, faculty, and staff, the Library Next project includes a new connection between the two existing buildings as well as the creation of flexible workspaces, reading rooms, collaboration areas, conference spaces, and technology labs for audio, video, computing, and visualization activities. Ground was broken on the project in summer of 2016 and completion is expected in early 2020.