Higher Education

SUNY Upstate Medical University is planning $300 million in improvements to its Syracuse, N.Y. campus. Funded by $320 million from the state of New York, the university will initiate a $72 million expansion of the Institute for Human Performance, creating needed research laboratories and constructing an 85,000-sf addition. A $150 million project will build new heart and cancer centers and modernize inpatient rooms at University Hospital.

The University of Michigan dedicated the Robert H. Lurie Nanofabrication Facility at the School of Engineering in Ann Arbor on April 12, 2008. Designed by SmithGroup, the project is a 32,000-sf addition to the existing Solid State Electronics Laboratory (SSEL) cleanroom facility. Featuring a three-level cleanroom concept, the project includes a fab, sub-fab, and mechanical space.

The University of British Columbia has selected Toronto-based Diamond + Schmitt Architects in joint venture with CEI Architecture and Planning to design the new Faculty of Law building in Vancouver. This new facility is designed to meet the needs of a new generation of law students and legal researchers, replacing the existing Law School, currently housed in two aging structures. The 13,500-sm building will provide space for more than 50 faculty members, 600 undergraduates, and 100 graduate students.

San Diego Mesa College is constructing the 49,000-sf Allied Health building in Linda Mesa, Calif. The contractor for the $20 million project is McCarthy. The facility will house a computer lab, classrooms, faculty and staff offices, and medical training laboratories for physical therapy, dentistry, and clinical skills. Completion is scheduled for August 2008.

Cornell University is engaged in a $6 million renovation to create a biofuels laboratory in Ithaca, N.Y. The project involves the renovation of 11,500-sf of former agricultural engineering, power, and machinery lab space in Riley Robb Hall. Completion is slated for January of 2009. Housing fermenters, incubators, and analytical equipment, the facility will accommodate between 12 to 18 faculty members and 25 graduate students currently dispersed in other campus locations.

Colby College is planning to construct a new 30,000-sf science building in Waterville, Maine. Housing faculty offices, student research space, classrooms, and a computer lab, the facility will support the departments of computer science, mathematics, and psychology. Completion is slated for fall of 2010.

The University of Rochester has received $50 million from the State of New York’s Upstate Revitalization Fund to construct the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. The 150,000-sf facility will house labs and offices for the development and commercialization of medical research.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore dedicated Building Two at its BioPark development in April of 2008. The six-story, 238,000-sf research facility will house tenants including the Institute for Genome Services, Gliknik, Paragon Bioservices, Westat, and the 38,000-sf Baltimore City Community College’s Bioscience Institute. The first two BioPark buildings were developed by Wexford Science & Technology. UMB broke ground on Building Three in spring of 2008. BioPark’s $500 million, 1.2 million-sf campus will be comprised of ten buildings upon completion.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is planning a renovation and expansion of the Jonsson-Rowland Science Center in Troy, N.Y.  The project aims to reduce existing deferred maintenance costs on the facility, constructed in 1961, by $20 million. An addition called the New Center for Science will connect via a glass atrium to the existing science center and will add 100,000-sf to 120,000-sf of wet laboratories for biology and physics teaching and research. Renovations to the existing facility will create dry labs, classrooms, offices, and conference rooms.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore received $62 million from the state of Maryland in April of 2008 to construct an addition to the School of Pharmacy. The seven-story facility will house four floors of clinical and translational research in pharmacogenetics, nanomedicine, and drug discovery. Featuring technology-rich lecture halls and a patient interaction laboratory, the 92,635-sf project will connect to the existing Pharmacy Hall via a glass pavilion.

Johns Hopkins University opened the John G. Rangos Sr. Life Sciences Building in East Baltimore, Md., on April 11, 2008. The University will occupy 100,000-sf of lab and office space in the 278,000-sf facility. The $60 million, seven-story building will provide interdisciplinary research space for the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences in the areas of epigenetics, sensory biology, cell dynamics, and metabolism and obesity research.

Purdue University broke ground on the $14.5 million Purdue Technology Center II on April 7, 2008. The 105,000-sf project will support 26 companies and represents a 13-acre expansion of the 725-acre Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, Ind. Additionally, Purdue is planning to construct the Paul W. Ogle Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering Laboratories at the Purdue University College of Technology in New Albany. The laboratories, which will include equipment such as a rapid prototyping machine, are expected to open in fall 2008.

Duke University School of Medicine is planning to build a $35 million medical education facility in Durham, N.C.  Housing instruction and clinical and basic research, the Education Center will include classrooms, lecture halls, offices, meeting rooms, and simulation laboratories for team-based learning programs. Additionally, Duke will build a $15 million facility for the McGovern-Davison Children’s Health Center consolidating inpatient and outpatient care for children and adolescents.

The University of Rhode Island has initiated construction on the $15 million Undersea Exploration Center in Narragansett. The project, which includes an expansion and rehabilitation of the Pell Marine Science Library, is being constructed by Gilbane Building Companies. Designed by Burt Hill of Boston, the project will integrate key resources and services of the Graduate School of Oceanography.

Villanova University is constructing a 174,000-sf law school on its campus in Villanova, Pa. Slated for completion in summer of 2009, the facility will include a law clinic, library, classrooms, meeting rooms, and a parking garage. The building will be constructed to meet LEED sustainable design specifications. Completion is expected in summer of 2009.