Higher Education

Eastern Mennonite University is planning a $30 million expansion and renovation of the Suter Science Center in Harrisonburg, Va. The project will include a $22 million, 42,712-sf addition and an $8 million, 48,000-sf renovation of the existing science building. The facility will house research labs, faculty offices, classrooms, a museum, a two-story atrium, and teaching labs for biology, chemistry, and physics. The nursing education program will also be housed in the new building.

Rice University is constructing the Collaborative Research Center in Houston. The 477,000-gsf project broke ground in December of 2006 and is slated for completion in early spring of 2009. Sited on 2.9 acres, the ten-story facility will accommodate bioscience and biotechnology research. The estimated construction cost of the LEED-certified facility is between $200 million and $300 million.

West Virginia University dedicated the $43 million Biomedical Research Center and the $17.5 million Health Sciences Learning Center in Morgantown in August of 2008. The four-story, 120,000-sf Biomedical Research Center houses the Multiple Sclerosis and Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Center, the Sensory Neurosciences Research Center, and other biomedical research facilities.

Portland State University is planning to construct the 100,000-sf School of Business Administration in Portland, Ore. Designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects, the $90 million facility will be comprised of six to seven stories and will include sustainable design elements such as natural ventilation and daylighting. Housing classrooms and auditoriums, the facility will connect to an adjacent privately-owned office facility to foster industry partnerships. Construction will begin in 2010.

Charles Stark Draper Laboratory is planning to create a bioMEMS research and development center at the University of South Florida in Tampa. The facility will support research in microelectromechancial systems for biomedical applications in partnership with USF and its medical school. Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, based in Cambridge, Mass., will also construct a production center in St. Petersburg for the manufacture of multi-chip modules combining multiple integrated circuits on a single chip.

The University of Toledo is planning to construct a $30 million facility for the College of Pharmacy in Toledo, Ohio. Sited on the university’s health sciences campus, the 54,000-sf project is slated for completion in mid-2010.

The University of Chicago will begin construction in fall of 2010 on the $375 million Center for Physical and Computational Sciences in Chicago. Consolidating departments currently dispersed in five buildings, the 500,000-sf facility will house the physics and computer science department, astronomy and astrophysics, and four physical sciences institutes. The eight-story building is slated for completion in spring of 2013.

King's College London has selected Devereux Architects and Allies & Morrison to design its £41m Clinical Neuroscience Institute facility. The project will support translational research on neuroscience, neurogenetics, epilepsy, and neurodegeneration. Completion is expected by December of 2010.

Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries is constructing the Center for Advanced Environmental Research (CAER) in Beacon, N.Y. Designed by Croxton Collaborative Architects and built by Turner Construction, the 30,000-sf research facility will support the development of river system monitoring technologies including networking and data analysis related to environmental sensors. The River and Estuary Observatory Network (REON) will be headquartered in the new facility.

The University of California, Los Angeles is planning to construct the $41.8 million Broad Stem Cell Research Center. The 34,587-sf project was awarded $19.8 million in funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in May of 2008.

Georgetown University broke ground in summer of 2008 on its 155,000-gsf Science Center. Slated for completion in late 2010, the technology-rich facility will feature flexible open labs and advanced instruments for team-based research. Supporting the departments of biology, chemistry, and physics, the building will house classrooms, faculty offices, research and teaching labs, support space, and lounges. The project is designed to foster interactive multidisciplinary research with removable walls for ease of reconfiguration and an abundance of glass walls for transparency.

The University of Notre Dame and Indiana University School of Medicine are partnering to create the $20 million Harper Cancer Institute in South Bend, Ind. The 55,000-sf facility will be constructed as an addition to the existing IU School of Medicine building adjacent to Notre Dame’s campus. Supporting research into the genetic and molecular basis of cancer, the project will house 28 laboratories and offices. Harper Hall will break ground in late 2008 with occupancy expected in 18 months.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ expansion of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute is slated for completion in 2010. The 300,000-sf, 12-story project will house research and clinical facilities. The first $130 million construction phase will include seven completed floors. The project team is comprised of Cromwell Architects Engineers of Little Rock, FKP Architects of Houston, and CDI Contractors.

The University of California, Merced began construction on a $38.5 million academic facility for the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts in July of 2008. Slated for completion in spring of 2010, the three-story building will house teaching and research labs, classrooms, research lab offices, and art studios. The project will increase available space for the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts from 90,000-sf to 192,000-sf. The facility will also include an entrepreneurship center and the Ernest and Julio Gallo School of Management.

Clarion University’s $33.7 million science and technology center in Clarion, Pa., is slated for completion in May of 2009. Built to meet LEED certification standards, the 98,000-sf facility will house 40 laboratories (including teaching labs), 55 offices, seven classrooms, and two seminar rooms. The facility was designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson with RFD (Research Facilities Design) as laboratory design consultant. Clarion University is also constructing the Biotechnology Business Development Center at Trinity Point.