Higher Education

Florida State University opened the $72 million Chemical Sciences Laboratory in Tallahassee on May 2, 2008. Housing education and research space, the 168,000-sf, five-story building will accommodate approximately 250 researchers. The building has a total of 145 fume hoods and includes core research facilities, a 160-seat lecture hall, flexible laboratories, and synthetic organic chemistry labs. The facility will enable FSU to expand research programs in the molecular sciences.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison broke ground on the $150 million Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery in Madison on May 2, 2008. The 300,000-sf interdisciplinary biomedical research building will be comprised of four stories above ground and one below, and will house research offices, an atrium, and flexible dry, wet, and combination laboratories. The collaborative public-private research project will accommodate biotechnology, health science, nanotechnology, engineering, and stem cell research.

The College of William and Mary is planning to construct a $4.3 million seawater research facility at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s Eastern Shore Laboratory in Wachapreague, Va.  The facility will house environmentally controlled laboratory space and will provide investigators with running seawater for research in marine ecology and aquaculture in the high-salinity environment of the coastal ocean.

James Madison University will initiate the planning phase for Centennial Hall in July of 2008. Sited on the university’s campus in Harrisonburg, Va., the biotechnology building will house life sciences instruction and research. The facility will be operated in partnership with SRI International and other Virginian educational institutions. Completion is expected in 2011.

Clemson University will break ground in August of 2008 on a $50 million, 95,000-sf Bioscience/Life Sciences building in Clemson, S.C.  Also under construction is the $7 million Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics facility, housing teaching labs, offices and classrooms; completion is slated for December of 2008. Additionally, the $11.5 million Rhodes Hall Annex, comprised of 30,000-sf of bioengineering research space, teaching labs, and classrooms, will reach completion in April of 2009.

The University of Southampton will open the £55 million Mountbatten Building in late 2008 in Southampton, UK. Connecting on all levels to the existing Zepler Building, the interdisciplinary nanotechnology and microelectronics facility will include cleanrooms, research laboratories, and offices. Housing the School of Electronics and Computer Sciences and the Optoelectronics Research Centre, the facility will accommodate the fabrication and characterization of materials with a concentration on the structuring and modifying of materials at the nanoscale.

The University of Central Florida (UCF) is constructing the Burnett Biomedical Sciences building in Orlando. Slated for completion by fall of 2009, the five-story facility will will house the merged UCF College of Medicine and the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences. The project team includes Ellenzweig Associates of Cambridge as design architect and HuntonBrady Architects of Orlando as architect of record.

The University of Tennessee's College of Veterinary Medicine opened the expanded John and Ann Tickle Small Animal Hospital in Knoxville in April of 2008. Construction began in February of 2007 on the $10 million, 32,000-sf addition. The project includes clinical space, small animal infectious disease isolators, a $1.5 million linear accelerator for radiation oncology, medical oncology, and avian and zoological medicine. A canine rehabilitation area includes a heated therapy pool and two new underwater treadmills.

The Stanford University School of Medicine officially broke ground on the 120,000-sf Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge in Stanford, Calif., on April 25, 2008. The technology-rich five-story facility will house the medical school’s education and training programs and is designed to foster interdisciplinary team-based learning. The Li Ka Shing Center will include the Center for Immersive and Simulation-based Learning, featuring a simulated operating room, intensive care unit, and emergency room with mannequins that both bleed and breathe.

Stony Brook Southampton, an affiliated college of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is initiating a $7 million renovation and expansion of the Marine Science Research Center at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences in Southampton, N.Y.  The 7,500-sf facility will be expanded to 14,000-sf and will house laboratories for aquaculture research and education. Additionally, Stony Brook Southampton is planning a $7.5 million expansion of its student center. LEED certification will be sought for both projects. 

The University of Pittsburgh approved $120 million in capital projects in April of 2008. A $64 million, 27,000-sf mezzanine level will be built in Benedum Hall at the Swanson School of Engineering housing classrooms, labs, and upgraded HVAC systems. A $21 million project will add a 38,000-sf wing to the Falk Laboratory School and renovate 26,000-sf in the existing Falk facility.

The University of New England (UNE) broke ground on an academic and research facility for its College of Pharmacy in April of 2008. Located at UNE's Westbrook College Campus in Portland, the 48,000-sf project will house laboratories for pharmaceuticals and sterile products, pharmacy practice rooms, classrooms, faculty and administrative offices, a drug information center, and a 10,000-sf research floor. Completion is slated for summer of 2009. LEED certification will be sought for the project.

Northwestern University has selected Flad Architects to design two new additions to the 750,000-sf Technological Institute in Evanston, Ill. A 54,000-gsf, five-story life sciences engineering addition will house the Integrated Molecular Structure Education and Research Center, electrical engineering teaching labs, core labs, and researcher offices. A 20,000-gsf, three-story addition will include an interdisciplinary cleanroom, an atrium, offices, dry labs, and flexible laboratory space.

Michigan State University broke ground on the $90 million Secchia Center in Grand Rapids in April of 2008. Housing MSU’s College of Human Medicine, the project will support medical education and biomedical research in the areas of cancer, obesity, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and neurobiology. The 180,000-sf, seven-story facility will include teaching laboratories, classrooms, offices, and student areas. The Secchia Center is slated for occupancy in fall of 2010.

Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science broke ground on the $43 million Life Sciences Research and Nursing Education Building in Los Angeles on April 18, 2008. The two-story, 63,000-sf building will house comprehensive nursing instruction for the Mervyn S. Dymally School of Nursing, and biomedical and clinical research laboratories for the College of Medicine and the College of Science and Health. Completion is expected by fall 2009. The architectural firm for project is HOK.