Spurred into action by a broken autoclave, Rush University Medical Center gutted and rebuilt its 30-plus-year-old BSL-3 lab and its anteroom, while converting existing adjacent offices into a dedicated mechanical room. The primary goals with the renovation were to bring the lab up to contemporary BSL-3 standards and to isolate its infrastructure and utilities from the rest of the Jelke Building, a mixed-use lab and patient-care building.
The University of Hawai'i opened the new UH Cancer Center in April of 2013 in Kaka’ako. The five-story, 150,000-sf facility was designed by Shimokawa Nakamura of Honolulu and ZGF Architects of Los Angeles. Other project team members included Jacobs Engineering as laboratory design consultant with Kobayashi Group as general contractor and project manager. The collaborative facility provides advanced laboratories for biomedical research.
Rutgers University will break ground in mid-2013 on the $55 million Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health. The three-story, 80,000-sf facility will house 25 principal investigators involved in basic research with a focus on genomics and molecular nutrition. The interdisciplinary building will provide 37,198 sf of research, 825 sf of administration, and 28,263 sf of community space. The remaining 13,425 sf is ocuppied by mechanical systems and circulation. The $34 million construction contract was awarded to Joseph A.
The Gates Vascular Institute (GVI) transforms the concept of translational collaboration, uniting not only a private health entity with a public institution, but also patients, physicians, researchers, educators, industry, and government within a state-of-the-art vertical campus. The building brings together, through a unique public/private partnership, the heart, vascular, and emergency facilities of Kaleida Health; the Clinical Translational Research Center (CTRC) of the University at Buffalo (UB); and a biosciences incubator and The Jacobs Institute of Neurology, both UB affiliates.
The University at Buffalo will break ground in September of 2013 on the $375 million School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Designed by HOK to foster interaction and collaboration, the seven-story, 500,000-sf project will be integrated with UB's academic medical center to promote a synthesis of instruction, research, and treatment. The facility comprises two L-shaped structures linked to create a six-story glass atrium. The ground floor includes a transit hub.
Auckland University of Technology opened the $98 million Sir Paul Reeves building in March of 2012. Designed by Jasmax, the 12-story, 215,000-sf academic facility provides instructional space for art, design, engineering, computing, mathematics, and creative technologies. The project houses AUT's School of Communications and features flexible lecture halls, television and performance studios, a media center, a broadcasting suite, and informal study areas.
The 183,000-sf Structural and Materials Engineering Building at UCSD houses several engineering departments, including Structural Engineering and NanoEngineering, as well as the Department of Visual Arts. Inspired by Bauhaus principles, the building's design fosters interaction between arts and engineering disciplines through gathering spaces, communal circulation, and shared computer and research laboratories. Offices are grouped around a variety of open meeting spaces to enhance collaboration while maintaining privacy.
Creating an "agile workplace"—by determining the overall business goals of an organization, making an in-depth appraisal of how employees work, and creating an efficient, cost-effective workspace that satisfies various work requirements—can save money in the long run by providing a satisfying workplace designed around employee's work activities.
High Point University is planning to build a $60 million medical education building in High Point, N.C. The 170,000-sf facility will provide technology-rich classrooms, teaching laboratories, and offices for the School of Health Sciences and the School of Pharmacy. Construction will begin in 2015 with occupancy expected in late 2016.
The University of Wisconsin is planning to build a $75 million science building on its Stevens Point campus. The four-story, 170,000-sf facility will provide teaching and research space for biology and chemistry. Construction is expected to begin in 2015 and reach completion in 2017. LEED Gold sustainable design certification will be sought for the project.
New technologies and approaches are making the renovation of academic science facilities a more financially attractive option for institutions facing limited budgets, constrained real estate, and aging buildings with prominent historic legacies. Recent data suggests that, depending on the type of technology applied, institutions can achieve significant savings by renovating existing buildings to meet the needs of modern science as opposed to demolishing and building new.
The six-story Academic Health Sciences Centre embraces multidisciplinary, highly technical research, while supporting Saskatchewan's commitment to provide exceptional healthcare for the people of the province. Flad Architects collaborated with Henry Downing Howlett Architects to design the new D Wing, which houses research labs, animal facilities, and academic offices for biomedical and pharmaceutical researchers from the various Health Sciences Colleges and units at the University of Saskatchewan.
The University of Nebraska is planning to construct the $19 million Health Science Education Building in Kearney. Construction will begin in January of 2014 with completion slated for June of 2015. The 30,000-sf project will provide education and training facilities including classrooms, anatomy and physiology labs, a clinical simulation lab, and a distance learning hub. The Health Science Education Building will house programs for the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing and the University of Nebraska Kearney School of Allied Health Professionals.
Research universities and liberal arts colleges are taking a closer look at how they apportion lab space to provide the best research environment for faculty and an optimal learning atmosphere for students, while adhering to safety protocols, reducing costs, and adding institutional flexibility.
The University of California, Davis opened a $58.5 million research facility for the School of Veterinary Medicine in March of 2013. Featuring collaborative open laboratories, the four-story, 76,000-asf Research Facility 3B will support 40 teams investigating animal, human, and environmental health issues including zoonotic diseases, autism, nutrition, reproduction, respiratory disease, neurobiology, food safety, toxicology, and aquatic toxicology.
