Energy

Rice University began site work in summer of 2021 for the $152 million Engineering and Science Building in Houston. Designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill with Scientia Architects as laboratory design consultant, the 266,000-sf structure will provide state-of-the-art labs, maker spaces, seminar rooms, interactive gathering areas, classrooms, and a dedicated prototyping facility. Flexible office areas will include touchdown spaces for faculty, graduate students, and staff.

The University of Victoria will break ground in early 2022 on a CAD$89.6 million project to provide new facilities for the Department of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS). A six-story addition to the existing ECS building will feature new laboratories and instructional venues for the university's growing programs in biomedical, civil, computer, electrical, mechanical, and software engineering. The adjacent High Bay Research and Structures Lab will enable large-scale experiments and the testing of new construction methods and materials.

Caltech is planning to break ground in April of 2022 on the $100 million Resnick Sustainability Resource Center in Pasadena. Designed by the Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign, the 80,000-sf interdisciplinary facility will provide sophisticated laboratory environments for research programs in climate science, ecology, biosphere engineering, energy, biofuels, decomposable plastics, solar science, and water and environmental resources.

Manchester Metropolitan University began construction in January of 2021 on the Science and Engineering Building in the United Kingdom. Designed by BDP, the seven-story, 160,000-sf facility will provide teaching and research labs, instructional venues, a 200-seat super lab, academic offices, collaboration spaces, self-directed learning areas, and a central atrium.

The University of California, Santa Barbara opened the $56 million Henley Hall in December of 2020. Housing the Institute for Energy Efficiency, the three-story, 50,280-gsf (29,292-asf) structure provides 17 research labs with a combination of wet and dry modalities, a 124-seat lecture hall, conference rooms, collaborative breakout areas, and faculty and administrative offices.

Matrix Innovation Center broke ground in December of 2020 on the Matrix 1 lab and office complex in Amsterdam. Designed by MVRDV to attain BREEAM Excellent certification, the six-story, 140,000-sf project will utilize demountable construction techniques so that the steel supports and concrete floors can be disassembled at the end of the structure's lifespan, enabling 89 percent of the materials to be reused.

Avista Development and McKinstry opened the $40 million Catalyst Building in Spokane in September of 2020. Designed by Michael Green Architecture, the five-story, 159,000-sf facility was built by Katerra using cross-laminated timber (CLT) structural components. Certified by the International Living Future Institute, the zero-carbon, net-zero building features a highly efficient heating and cooling system, a sophisticated building envelope, LED lighting, and integrated energy management technologies.

ABB is planning to construct a $30 million manufacturing center in San Giovanni Valdarno, Italy. The 172,200-sf facility will support the production of direct-current battery chargers for electric vehicles. Accelerating the company's growth and innovation in the electromobility sector, the sustainably designed project will leverage highly efficient building systems and rooftop photovoltaic arrays to achieve optimal energy performance and reduce carbon emissions.

The University of Sheffield completed construction in July of 2020 on the Royce Discovery Centre in the United Kingdom. Designed by Bond Bryan Architects, the flexible facility provides leading-edge laboratories and workshops for materials science research. Featuring advanced technologies for 3D additive manufacturing, digital manufacturing, and nanocharacterization, the building leverages sophisticated strategies for vibration and noise mitigation to protect sensitive instrumentation.

The U.S. Department of Energy is planning to begin construction in 2021 on the $75 million Grid Storage Launchpad at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. Designed as a resource hub for the development of next-generation grid energy storage technologies, the R&D facility will provide labs for basic materials synthesis and processing, in-operando characterization, small-scale cell fabrication, kilowatt-scale testing and validation, advanced prototyping, visualization, and analysis.

Pacific Northwest National Lab began construction in March of 2020 on a $90 million energy sciences research building in Richland, Wash. Designed by Kirksey Architecture, the collaborative 140,000-sf facility will enable academic, industry, and government investigators to create new energy and transportation technologies. Supporting fundamental research in chemistry, materials science, and computing, the building will include advanced instrumentation suites housing next-generation imaging and microscopy devices.

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) is building a £22 million nuclear fusion research facility in Rotherham. Supporting the creation of advanced joining materials and components, the 26,900-sf structure will feature specialized testing suites that simulate the conditions inside a fusion reactor. The center is being constructed in the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) to promote collaboration with the adjacent Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre.

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority opened the 47,360-sf Research and Development Centre in March of 2020. Located at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in the United Arab Emirates, the four-story facility offers laboratories for the development of leading-edge technologies for solar power, smart grid integration, energy efficiency, and water management systems. Accelerating the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the center will enable the creation of innovative 3D printing and additive manufacturing modalities.

The Ohio State University is planning to construct two collocated research facilities in its West Campus innovation district in Columbus. Designed by Pelli Clarke & Partners and Moody Nolan, the 305,000-sf Interdisciplinary Research Facility will provide a vivarium, support spaces, and wet, computational, and core labs for programs in engineering and medical research.

Georgia Institute of Technology dedicated the $30 million Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design in October of 2019 in Atlanta. Designed by Lord Aeck Sargent & The Miller Hull Partnership, the 47,000-sf facility provides two 64-person classrooms, a maker space, four class labs, a conference room, offices, and a 176-person auditorium.