Collaboration

Oregon State University will begin construction in March of 2015 on a $40 million facility for the School of Chemical, Biological and Ecological Engineering. The three-story, 58,000-sf Johnson Hall will provide interdisciplinary laboratories for collaborative research, faculty offices, classrooms, and a center for engineering student recruitment and retention. The project architect is SRG Partnership with Research Facilities Design (RFD) as laboratory programming and design consultant.

James Madison University is building a $65 million facility for the College of Health and Behavioral Studies (CHBS) in Harrisonburg, Va. Designed by EYP Architecture & Engineering, the six-story, 150,000-sf project will provide collaborative labs and classrooms for four of the university’s CHBS programs, including nursing. The building will include simulation training suites as well as administrative and faculty offices. Construction began on the facility in fall of 2014 and completion is expected in June of 2016.

The University of Central Florida is partnering with Osceola County and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council to create the $72 million Florida Advanced Manufacturing Research Center in Kissimmee. Housing the world’s first industry-led smart sensor consortium, the 100,000-sf research and incubation facility will be leased and operated by the University of Central Florida. The construction manager for the project is Skanska USA.
 

Inova Health is acquiring a 117-acre campus in Merrifield, Va., as the site for a new biomedical research complex called the Center for Personalized Health. The first phase of construction will create the Inova Translational Medicine Institute and the Inova Comprehensive Cancer and Research Institute. The $200 million, 180,000-sf project is slated for occupancy by early 2018. Existing facilities on the campus will be renovated to provide advanced laboratory space for collaborative genomics research.

Winthrop-University Hospital opened the $110 million Research and Academic Center in February of 2015 in Mineola, N.Y. Designed by Perkins Eastman, the five-story, 95,000-sf facility will support translational research on pediatric and adult diabetes in conjunction with patient care and community education. The center provides classrooms, a clinical trials center, a simulation training suite, a 350-seat auditorium, and core labs for the study of diabetes, obesity, cardiopulmonary disease, and neurology.

Michigan State University is planning to build an $85 million research facility for the College of Human Medicine in Grand Rapids. The 163,000-sf facility will feature opens labs for team-based research and is slated for completion in fall of 2017. SmithGroupJJR is providing architectural and engineering services for the project, and the facility will be built by a joint venture of Rockford Construction and Clark Construction Company.

BluVue announced the release of BluVue Plans 2.0 for iOS and Android in February of 2015. The app allows project teams to have mobile access to current construction plan documents, eliminating the risk of building off of outdated drawings. BluVue Plans also helps construction teams collaborate efficiently on project drawings, giving them the power to view, mark up, and share plans.

The University of Pennsylvania opened the $38 million Jordan Medical Education Center in Philadelphia in January of 2015. Designed to accommodate a multidisciplinary, team-based pedagogy, the three-story, 55,000-sf project will provide the Perelman School of Medicine with two flexible 3,000-sf learning studios, eight technology-rich classrooms, a learning commons, a law auditorium and pavilion, and a variety of small group spaces.

Volunteer State Community College began constructing the $30.5 million Humanities Building in January of 2015. The 88,345-sf facility is located in Gallatin, Tenn., and will provide 23 classrooms, 18 laboratories, and 11 collaborative study spaces. Designed by Moody Nolan of Nashville, the building will also house a recording studio, an art gallery, art studios, computer labs, 56 offices, and 20 adjunct faculty rooms. Completion is expected in summer of 2016.

Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies broke ground in January of 2015 on a 62,000-sf biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Designed to support collaborative research and development, the three-story BioProcess Innovation Center will accommodate the creation and production of advanced proteins, vaccines, and monoclonal antibodies. The project team includes Alexandria Real Estate Equities and KBR Building Group. Completion is expected in late 2015.

Procore Technologies launched a new file storage and synchronization application for construction management in January of 2015. Procore Drive allows teams to share and collaborate on large files without the impediments of FTP clients or other cumbersome file sharing solutions. Designed to increase project efficiency by streamlining communication, the application delivers the speed, security, and scale required by enterprises to collaborate between mobile devices, laptops, and desktop computers.

A unique public-private partnership is fast-tracking advanced manufacturing research and spurring development of the industry’s next-generation workforce, according to Barry Johnson, senior associate dean at the University of Virginia (UVA). The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) is an industry-driven collective with an applied research facility near Richmond that connects schools where research originates with companies who will apply it to commercialization.

The American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Institute opened in Detroit in January of 2015. The $148 million facility was created by a public-private partnership that includes the University of Michigan, Ohio State University, Alcoa, Boeing, Johnson Controls, and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. The 100,000-sf center provides research, development, and production space to support the creation of advanced manufacturing technologies using lightweight metals and alloys.

The University of California, Los Angeles is constructing the $130 million Engineering VI building for the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. The six-story, 150,000-sf project was designed by BNIM and Moore Ruble Yudell with Research Facilities Design (RFD) as laboratory design consultant. The multidisciplinary facility will provide temperature-stabilized, low-vibration, and low-electromagnetic environments for the development of advanced energy technologies.

The University of Strathclyde will open the $138 million Technology and Innovation Centre (TIC) in Glasgow in March of 2015. The nine-story, 269,000-sf building will provide 100 laboratories, two auditoriums, offices, and a central atrium. The facility will house the Fraunhofer Centre for Applied Photonics as well as five test cells on the basement level for the study of high-intensity radiation.