Higher Education

Princeton University has selected Los Angeles-based Frederick Fisher and Partners to design a new facility for the Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering, part of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Sited near the Engineering Quadrangle to further the concept of "academic neighborhoods," the three-story facility will foster interdisciplinary research and seek to address the social aspects of advances in computer technology.

The University of California, Berkeley is initiating construction on the new 67,700-sf C.V. Starr Library at the Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies. When completed in 2007, the facility will be the first free-standing building in the United States dedicated to East Asian collections and will house more than 700,000 bound volumes, a rare book collection, a media and digital materials center, reference and periodical reading rooms, study rooms, offices, and a book processing center. The construction cost for the project is $32 million.

Winston-Salem University dedicated the $12.1-million Atkinson Science Building in fall of 2005. Construction on the facility began in May 2003 with occupancy in spring of 2005. Housing approximately 51,000 sf of classroom and lab space, a 3,000-sf lecture hall, and a 1,600-sf cafe, the building includes dedicated laboratories for anatomy, chemistry, biotechnique, physiology, immunology, chromatography, physics, and organic chemistry.  

The University of Pennsylvania has awarded Kling the contract for the Master Plan Study for the School of Nursing in Philadelphia. Constructed in 1972, the existing School of Nursing resides in the 165,000-sf Nursing Education Building.

Virginia Tech began construction in September 2005 on a 72,000-sf life sciences research building on its Blacksburg, Va., campus. The three-story building will house animal care facilities and life science laboratories including microbiology labs, BSL-3 facilities, and a basement floor small animal vivarium. Meeting NIH and CDC research standards, the building will accommodate over 200 faculty, students, and staff. The total project cost is approximately $35 million. Completion is slated for summer of 2007.

The University of Saskatchewan is planning to begin construction on its Academic Health Sciences Centre in Saskatoon by July of 2007. Estimated to cost between $140 million and $160 million, the facility is expected to be comprised of two buildings. The first would be attached to the existing Health Sciences structure and would house BSL-2 laboratory space and an animal research facility. The second building would house a 500-seat lecture hall, meeting rooms, a new school of public health, and a relocated health sciences library.

Miami Dade College broke ground on a new $25-million science complex in November 2005. Located on the school's North Campus in Miami, the three-story, 73,384-sf facility will house classrooms, administrative and faculty offices, and a greenhouse. The two laboratory floors will accommodate research and teaching facilities for astronomy, biology, chemistry, and earth sciences.

The University of Texas at San Antonio opened the 10.6-million Margaret Batts Tobin Laboratory Building in November of 2005. Designed by FKP Architects, the 22,000-sf BSL-3 facility will support infectious disease research with six biology research labs, a computer media center, and a conference room. The contractor for the project was Vaughn Construction.

The University of California at Riverside is planning to construct the 110,000-sf New Genomics Building. Slated for completion by spring of 2008, the facility will provide the University's Genomics Institute with state-of-the-art research laboratories for faculty, researchers, and support staff. The design architect for the project is Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott (SBRA) working in association with RBB Architects of Los Angeles.

Stanford University will initiate $75 million in construction work to accommodate a new laser that will be housed at the Linear Accelerator Center in Palo Alto, Calif. The project team of the San Jose office of Turner Construction and engineers Hatch Mott MacDonald are expected to begin work in early 2006. The laser is slated for operational completion in early spring 2009. The cost of new equipment and modifications to existing equipment needed to build the laser itself is over $300 million.

Texas Christian University is initiating a $100-million construction project on its Fort Worth, Texas, campus. A campus commons comprised of a university union and four residence halls will begin construction in summer 2006. The project will house a conference hall, dining facilities, space for campus activities, and dormitory space for 600 to 650 students. Funded separately, the School of Education will undergo a $10.5-million renovation and construction project.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth broke ground on a new 22,000-sf research and laboratory facility in fall of 2005. Designed by ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, the two-story, $9-million project will be built as an extension to the Violette Building. The first floor has been designed with flexible, modular laboratories to accommodate chemistry, biology, psychology, engineering, and a vivarium. The second floor will house containment laboratories for research.

Brown University has received $11 million in funding from a renewal of the National Institutes of Health's Center of Biomedical Research Excellence Grant. In addition to funding research projects, the grant will create a bioinformatics core facility for conducting database analysis. A genomics core facility and a transgenic core facility for creating genetically altered mice, created by the previous NIH grant, will also be supported by the funding.

The University of Kentucky will complete the $17-million Center for Pharmaceutical Science and Technology on the 735-acre Coldstream Research Campus in Lexington in February of 2006. The center is one of two in the nation approved by the FDA to manufacture small drug batches for human trials. Additionally, private developer Kale Roscoe of Michigan is planning to construct two five-story buildings housing offices and labs at the research park.

Eckerd College has selected Cannon Design as the architect for a new wellness center and recreational complex on the college's Boca Raton, Fla., campus. Planned as a recreation and fitness village composed of smaller buildings, the 30,000-sf facility will feature three two-story pods connected on both levels by walkways, terraces, and decks. The student life complex will include expanded facilities for dining, retail, and recreation spaces.