Higher Education

Texas Christian University (TCU) has selected Cannon Design in association with Hahnfeld Associates to design a new university union on the school's Forth Worth campus. The 140,000-sf building will house casual gathering places for students, food service facilities, retail spaces, student government offices, and an auditorium. Construction will begin in summer of 2006. As a "fusion" facility, the project will combine several different student services and activities under one roof.

The University of Louisiana (ULL) is engaged in over $50-million in capital projects on its Lafayette campus. A $7.5-million, 15,000-sf computer science building is slated for completion by year-end 2006. The three-story facility will house classrooms, labs, conference rooms, and an auditorium. Construction was completed in January 2006 on a $1.3-million expansion of the Marine Survival Training Center.

Keene State College's (KSC) Science Center received an Honor Award from the New Hampshire chapter of the AIA for creative renovation and energy conservation. KSC saved $5.5-million in construction costs on the project by working within the existing structure. The 93,640-sf project included complete renovation of the existing structure and a 37,940-sf addition housing labs for biology and chemistry. The addition increases floor-to-floor heights and utilizes low-flow fume hoods connected to an enthalpy heat recovery system. 

The University of South Florida (USF) will break ground in spring of 2006 on the 70,000-sf Center for Advanced Learning and Simulation at the University Research Park in Tampa. Expected to cost between $60-million and $70-million, the center will house laboratories for physician skill training, medical product development, and a virtual hospital and simulation center. The facility will bring R&D and surgical skills training together under one roof. Completion is expected in late summer to late fall of 2007.

Simmons College will construct a 65,500-sf facility for the School of Management on its Fenway campus in Boston. The five-story building is expected to reach completion in two and a half years and will include a new quadrangle and underground parking. The facility is targeted for certification by the U.S. Green Building Council for design elements such as lower energy consumption, materials used, air quality, and natural lighting.

The University of Washington will begin renovating laboratories at the Washington Regional Primate Research Center in Seattle in spring of 2006. Currently equipped for BSL-2 research, the primate facility will be upgraded to meet new research standards. The project is funded in part by $3.7-million from the National Center for Research Resources (NCCR). Completion is expected by year-end 2006.

Texas A&M University-Commerce opened its new $28-million Science Building in January 2006. The three-story, 110,000-sf facility will be officially dedicated on April 4, 2006. The building will house the departments of physics, chemistry, biology, and earth and environmental sciences.

The University of California, San Diego is nearing topping out on the new $30-million, 110,000-sf Student Academic Services facility in La Jolla. Designed by Rob Wellington Quigley of San Diego, the five-story building is being constructed by McCarthy. Featuring a 300-seat multipurpose room and two restaurants, the facility will combine all student services formerly located throughout the campus including financial aid, registration, and admissions.

The University of Toronto opened the 20,550-metre Terence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research (CCBR) in January of 2006. Designed by a joint venture of Toronto's architectsAlliance and Stuttgart, Germany-based Behnisch, Behnisch and Partner, the 12-story building contains wet and dry laboratories, research offices, three seminar rooms, a six-story garden and atrium, and mechanical operations on the seventh floor. 

The University of North Carolina has selected Turner Construction to build the 311,000-sf Core Laboratory Building at the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis. Financed by David Murdock and designed by Narmour Wright Creech Architecture, the five-story facility will be the first structure in a planned 350-acre biotech campus. Ground will be broken on the project in late February 2006 with completion expected in late 2007.

The University of California, San Diego will complete the expansion and renovation of the $16-million Biomedical Library in La Jolla in spring of 2006. McCarthy Building Companies is serving as construction manager and general contractor for the project, which entails the addition of 39,000 sf to the existing library, as well as renovation of the attached structure. Built in 1969 to serve 800 users, the library will nearly double in size so that services can be provided to more than 4,000 students, faculty, and visitors.

The University of California, Davis is constructing two veterinary medical facilities, both slated for completion by year-end 2006. Designed by SRG Partnership of Portland, Ore., the $77-million Veterinary Medical Building 3A features office, teaching, and clinical laboratory space, a research tower, overhead cranes for large animal transport, and a necropsy room with a digester. The 164,000-sf facility is being built to meet strict biosafety sterilization code requirements and vibration criteria.

The University of California, Davis (U.C. Davis) dedicated the $20-million Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology on January 30, 2006. Located in the Oak Park Research Building in Sacramento, Calif., the 40,000-sf facility will accommodate 100 researchers from U.C. Davis and other partner institutions including U.C. Berkeley, U.C. San Francisco, Stanford University, Mills College, and Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.

The University of Maryland is constructing a new $69-million biosciences research facility on its College Park campus. The building will house research in genomic biology, neurosciences, plant sciences, and host-pathogen interactions. Accommodating the departments of biology, cell biology, genetics, and molecular biology departments for the College of Chemical and Life Sciences, the facility will feature a lecture hall with over 400 seats. The project began construction in September 2004 and is slated for completion in late summer of 2006.

The University of Central Florida celebrated the grand opening of its new Health Center in Orlando in January of 2006. Skanska USA Building and the joint venture architectural team of Mateu/HuntonBrady were involved in the construction and design of the facility. The total value of the project is estimated to be $88-million. The project included the construction of a new 48,725-foot, three-story health center that functions as the basic medical service provider for students, faculty, and staff at the university.