Higher Education

Sam Houston State University has completed the design of the addition to the Farrington Science Building on its Huntsville, Texas, campus. The 61,740-sf addition will be constructed adjacent to the existing building and will accommodate the departments of Physics and Chemistry, as well as the newly created Forensics department. Designed by WHR, the facility will include a variety of classrooms, offices, basic science teaching labs and research laboratories for Chemistry, Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Forensic Pathology.

The University of Kentucky has selected the Cincinnati office of Lockwood Green Engineering & Construction to design the $12-million Center for Pharmaceutical Sciences & Technology. Sited in the Coldstream Research Park in Lexington, the 20,000-sf life sciences facility will serve as a clinical manufacturing site for sterile-fill products. The project will also house quality assurance/quality control facilities, a core cleanroom, and utilities.

Ground has been broken on the University of California at Berkeley 's $117.5 million, seven-story CITRIS (Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society) facility. The 140,000-sf building will include a large, secure computing center with massive storage capabilities on the two basement floors. The first above-ground floor will house classrooms, with reconfigurable laboratories on floors two through five.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham has initiated construction on the 101,000-sf, five-story UAB Research Support Building. Designed by CUH2A of Princeton, N.J, the $18.5 million project will accommodate research labs and offices. The general contractor is Doster Construction. The facility will open in July of 2005.

Texas Woman's University has awarded Vaughn Construction of Houston a $27.7-million contract to construct its new Houston campus at the Texas Medical Center. Construction is slated to begin on the 10-story, 202,000-sf TWU facility in early 2006. Housing conference and seminar rooms, video conferencing and distance learning facilities, several 120-seat lecture halls, and a 250-seat auditorium, the new campus will more than double the university's enrollment to approximately 3,000 students.

On November 29, 2004, the California Public Library Construction and Renovation Board awarded public library construction grants for a total of $80,588,293 to 12 library projects. The three largest grants included $13,961,277 to the Castro Valley Library, $14,900,075 to the  Fontana Library & Resource Technology Center, and $11,880,531 to the Lafayette Library & Learning Center.

Webster University in St. Louis is planning to invest $15 million to construct two new residence halls. Completion is expected by fall of 2006. The first 64,400-sf freshman dormitory would house 198 beds. The second 35,400-sf upperclassmen dormitory would house 112 beds. The architect for the project is Mackey Mitchell & Associates.

Construction on the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center in Austin has reached completion. The newly expanded 30,000-sf museum features exhibit space, a new 140-seat theater, a darkroom, and library equipment storage areas. The project also included renovation and expansion of the adjacent Carver Public Library. The project contractor was Cadence McShane Corp. of Dallas.

The University of Louisville has received $10.25 million from a bill approved by the U.S. Senate to fund the construction of a 134,700-sf biomedical research building. The facility will be constructed on the university's health sciences campus. The funding is part of $28 million the university will receive to support research initiatives.

The Walt Disney Foundation is planning to convert a 44,000-sf brick building in San Francisco's Presidio to create a museum honoring Walt Disney. Construction is expected to begin in early 2005 with the museum opening in 2007. The museum, to be designed by Tanner Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects, will include an art gallery, an exhibit of Disney's personal items, and a research center.

Nova Southeastern University is constructing a new $47-million student center on its Davie, Fla., campus. The multi-level, 250,000-sf facility will house a student union, a fitness center, and space for ancillary functions and support. The western half of the structure will include a hydrotherapy spa and a basketball court; the three-story eastern half will connect to the bookstore and the existing student center.

Texas A&M University is building the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at its Corpus Christi campus. The new 56,000-sf marine science research facility will focus on teaching, research, and service related to the Gulf of Mexico with special emphasis on the Texas Gulf Coast. The facility will include an education outreach center, research and teaching laboratories, a seminar room, classrooms, and a conference facility. WHR is working in association with Richter Architects on the design of this facility.

University of California Davis has recently completed the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) in Davis, Calif. Constructed by McCarthy, the facility combines a variety of different uses, supporting the latest trends in student activity and recreation. Designed by Cannon Design of Westwood, Calif., the 155,000-sf ARC houses a conference center, student union, fitness club, and other amenities. Total construction cost for the project was approximately $31 million.

Rice University recently completed a 3,000-sf renovation/remodeling project on its Houston campus to create the Nanofabrication/Cleanroom Lab Facility in Abercrombie Hall. Constructed by McCarthy, the new facility is comprised of Class 100 and Class 1000 cleanrooms, office, and lab support space. It will provide researchers with the clean-air environment needed to study minute mechanisms the size of only a few atoms.

Prairie View A&M University is expanding its presence at the Texas Medical Center in Houston with a new College of Nursing facility. Increasing teaching space to accommodate its growing program, the building design accommodates 110,000 sf for immediate occupancy with the capacity for future vertical expansion. Designed by Watkins Hamilton Ross, the facility will house classrooms, distance education classrooms, human simulation labs, skills labs, computer facilities, and a large auditorium.