Higher Education

The University of Tennessee has begun renovating Sophronia Strong Hall to create an advanced science laboratory facility. The completed nine-story, 268,000-sf building will house the departments of anthropology and earth and planetary sciences, as well as providing instructional space and open, flexible labs for the departments of biology and chemistry. The $114 million project is expected to reach completion in early 2016. LEED Silver sustainable design will be sought for the renovated facility.

The six-story, 296,500-sf University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston’s School of Dentistry includes dental clinics, simulation and pre-clinical labs, clinical support labs, a clinical research lab, classrooms, learning resource center, student center, and administrative space. The building is divided into three zones: patient and public areas on the lower floors, topped by student areas, then faculty and staff areas on the upper floors.

The University of Alaska Anchorage is building the $123 million Engineering & Industry Building. Providing classrooms and laboratories for the College of Engineering, the facility will support instruction in eleven disciplines including mechanical, electrical, civil, arctic, and computer systems engineering. The 80,000-sf building will feature computer-aided-design (CAD) labs and a prototyping lab with 3D printers.

All Children's Hospital is partnering with the University of South Florida to create a 300,000-sf pediatric research facility in St. Petersburg. Housing 40 investigators, the project will support medical education, training, and joint research in areas including neuroscience, behavioral health, and early childhood diseases. The estimated construction cost of the facility is $75 million.

Emory University’s 200,000-sf Health Sciences Research Building (HSRB) provides both wet and dry labs and BSL-2 and BSL-3 containment to pursue research in drug discovery, immunology and vaccines, neurosciences, cancer, gastroenterology, transplant immunology, nephrology, biomedical engineering, and human genetics.

Panola College is planning to build a 64,000-sf facility to house the departments of Science and Health Science in Carthage, Texas. Designed by Corgan Associates, the $35 million facility will provide teaching labs for biology, chemistry, microbiology, physical science, anatomy, physiology, nursing, and occupational therapy. The Science-Health Science Building will also house classrooms, lecture halls, offices, computer labs, an instrumentation room, and study suites. The project contractor is HUNT Construction.

Indiana University of Pennsylvania is building a $30 million facility for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Designed by Astorino to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, the building will house the departments of English, journalism, political science, philosophy, history, religious studies, geography, and regional planning. The five-story, 126,505-sf facility will provide 31 classrooms, 120 faculty and administrative offices, laboratories, a 250-seat auditorium, eight conference rooms, a media room, and an atrium.

The University of Georgia is planning to build the $45 million Science Learning Center in Athens. The 122,500-sf facility will provide modern, flexible laboratories for undergraduate science instruction in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines. The building will house 33 teaching labs for chemistry, physics, biological sciences, and plant biology. Upon completion, the University is also planning a $10 million renovation to upgrade its existing science laboratories.

The University of Michigan has completed the second renovation phase of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Laboratory in Ann Arbor. Designed by Lord Aeck Sargent, the $11.1 million project included construction of a 10,161-sf addition to house the University of Michigan Energy Institute and the creation of advanced laboratory space on the second floor of the existing building. The completed facility includes a 2,108-sf chemistry lab with 12 fume hoods, a 1,082-sf chemistry lab with two fume hoods, research offices, and an executive conference room.

The University of Wyoming began construction on the $50 million Michael B. Enzi STEM Facility in Laramie in January of 2014. The three-story, 100,000-sf facility will provide 32 teaching labs for chemistry, biology, organic chemistry, physics, mathematics, and computer science. The building will also include eight prep rooms, eight offices, a commons area, and an atmospheric sciences lab to support collaborative research with the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center in Cheyenne.

The University of South Florida broke ground on the $50 million USF Health Heart Institute in Tampa in December of 2013. The five-story, 100,000-sf facility will feature four core laboratories for basic and applied research, including regenerative medicine; pharmacology and drug discovery; bioinformatics and genomics; and integrative cell and organ physiology. The interdisciplinary project is created in partnership with Florida Hospital Pepin Heart Institute and is slated for completion in 2015.

Construction will begin in early 2014 on the $50 million Water Campus in Baton Rouge, La. The 30-acre development will provide research, engineering, and administrative facilities for government agencies, academic institutions, and industry partners. The first phase of construction will feature Louisianna State University's 50,000-sf River Modeling Center which will include a small scale representation of the lower Mississippi River.

Vanderbilt University is planning a four-story, 160,000-sf expansion of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital in Nashville. The $84 million tower will provide one inpatient care floor, including a 36-bed pediatric ICU, and three floors of shell space. Construction will begin in 2015.
 

Auburn University began building the $20 million Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) in December of 2013. Located in the Auburn Research Park, the 90,400-sf facility will provide classrooms, laboratories, small group interaction areas, and a technology center. The general contractor for the project is Brasfield & Gorrie. Completion is expected by summer of 2015.