Higher Education

Texas A&M University is planning to build the $285.6 million Pandemic Influenza Facility in the Bryan-College Station BioCorridor. The 151,600-sf project will accommodate the development of countermeasures for pandemic and biological threats and is supported by $176 million in federal funding. The facility will house cleanrooms for vaccine manufacturing, decontamination rooms, quality control labs, and a central utility plant. Construction will begin in June of 2013 with completion expected in December of 2014.

The UF Research and Academic Center at Lake Nona is a four-story, 100,000-gsf research, academic, and conferencing facility which enables the University of Florida to continue its mission at the Lake Nona Medical City in Orlando, Fla.

The Translational and Biomedical Research Center for the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) and the Children's Research Institute (CRI) provide a technically sophisticated facility that supports a broad range of research projects and protocols. The contemporary design enables MCW to expand its research environment, recruit researchers, and secure additional grant money. In addition, the lab building elevates CRI's national leadership profile in pediatric healthcare as it recruits top talent and conducts treatment and diagnostic research.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City is building the $32 million Henry W. Bloch Hall for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Designed by BNIM Architects, the 68,000-sf facility features flexible classrooms, a behavioral research lab, a concept design and prototyping lab, a financial market simulation lab, a 200-seat auditorium, and a central atrium.Construction began on the project in 2012 with occupancy expected in August of 2013. The general contractor is JE Dunn Construction.

The University of Miami is building the 81,000-sf Marine Technology Life Sciences Seawater Complex. Located on the Virginia Key Campus in Miami, the $47 million project includes the Marine Life Sciences Center and the  Surge-Structure Atmosphere Interaction (SUSTAIN) research lab. Providing research space for the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, the complex will feature a 28,000-gallon tank with a three-dimensional simulator able to create Category 5 hurricane winds. The center will also include a facility for the culture and study of sea hares.

UConn Health Center began building the $203 million Ambulatory Care Center (ACC) in Farmington in February of 2013. The eight-story, 300,000-sf building will house the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center, multiple clinical programs, and outpatient faculty practices. LEED Silver sustainable design certification will be sought for the facility. Completion is expected in early 2015.

Nassau Community College (NCC) on Long Island, N.Y., completed a 73,900-sf, three-story facility—on track to be the first LEED Gold-certified community college in the state—on time and on budget by focusing on project goals and continually tracking expenditures. Also contributing to the project's success was NCC leadership's decision five years ago to create a Design and Construction Department, an unusual move for a community college, where facilities projects normally are overseen by the home county.

Missouri State University is building a $3.2 million vivarium facility in Springfield. The 5,000-gsf project is being constructed as an addition connecting to the existing Temple Hall. The facility will provide animal housing space, support, an administrative office, and a shower for animal care staff. The vivarium will accommodate research on mammalian species while providing a new aquatics lab for the study of fish and mussels.

Glasgow University will open the Beatson Translational Research Centre in spring of 2013. Housing 150 scientists, the project will provide collaborative laboratories for interdisciplinary cancer research. The $16 million facility is located on the University's Garscube campus in the Bearsden area of Glasgow, Scotland.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is planning to build the $115 million Williamson Translational Research Building in Lebanon, N.H. The 165,000-sf facility will provide collaborative research space supporting the integration of medical discoveries into patient care. Construction is expected to begin on the project in spring of 2013.

Recent high-profile natural disasters and human-based incidents are driving vivarium facility owners to reevaluate their disaster and contingency plans. Traditional approaches to risk assessment and research preservation are often over-simplified, understaffed, and insufficiently funded. A new shift in thinking focuses on preparing for the net results of losing utilities, an entire building, or access to a section of campus rather than the initial causes.

Middle Tennessee State University is building the $147 million Science Building in Murfreesboro. Designed by joint venture firm Thomas Miller & Partners/Hastings Associates with Einhorn Yaffee Prescott as consultant, the facility will provide over 250,000 sf for STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Accommodating collaborative team-based learning, the building features two-tiered discussion classrooms, seven teaching labs, advanced instrumentation suites, and a 150-seat lecture hall.

The University of Wyoming is planning to build the $30 million Energy Engineering Research Facility (EERF) in Laramie. The 81,000-sf building will feature large-scale, flexibly configured research laboratories, offices, and meeting areas. The project team includes Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects of Seattle, Malone Belton Abel of Laramie, and GSG Architecture of Casper. Construction will begin in fall of 2014 with completion expected in spring of 2016.

Northwestern Medicine is planning to build a new biomedical research facility in Chicago. Connecting to the Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center on every level, the building will provide between 300,000 and 500,000 sf of advanced translational research space. Total build-out is estimated at 1.2 million sf. The $1 billion project also includes the renovation of 250,000 sf of lab space in existing facilities.

A pedagogy pioneered at North Carolina State University (NCSU) is turning higher education upside down by redesigning the learning environment to foster interaction among today's technology-savvy students, and turning students into teachers in the process.