Higher Education

Rice University is planning to construct the $25 million Susan and Fayez Sarofim Hall in Houston. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the 50,000-sf facility will provide the Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts with studios, labs, shops, collaboration spaces, exhibition areas, and faculty offices. Promoting experimentation and collaboration between disciplines, the public-facing project will be bisected by a glass-lined pedestrian street that will act as a new campus entrance.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham is constructing the $76 million Science and Engineering Complex to create a collaborative nexus for teaching and research in the basic sciences. Designed by Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, the four-story, 138,842-sf facility will house interactive classrooms, team learning rooms, faculty and staff offices, and project-based research labs that allow for student shadowing. Instrumentation suites will be located on an isolation floor to mitigate vibration.

Imperial College London opened the £70 million Sir Michael Uren Biomedical Engineering Research Hub in London in December of 2021. Designed by Allies and Morrison, the 13-story, 215,000-sf building provides flexible laboratories, a 160-seat auditorium, and a variety of social spaces to foster interaction and informal knowledge exchange.

2021 was another unprecedented year, with rapidly changing capital project priorities. New directions in science funding, the current and future realities of in-person and hybrid learning and work environments, and what it now takes to recruit and retain workers, students, and faculty were items of highest interest. Here is the top ten list of Tradeline articles that your peers found particularly helpful in navigating 2021 and preparing for 2022 and beyond.

Texas Tech University broke ground in December of 2021 on the $100 million Academic Sciences Building in Lubbock. Located in the STEM epicenter of campus, the 125,000-sf facility will accommodate the departments of Biological Sciences, Psychological Sciences, Geosciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Physics and Astronomy. Designed by EYP Architecture and Engineering and BGK Architects, the three-story structure will enhance the student experience with active learning classrooms, teaching labs, computer labs, and collaboration spaces.

Washington University School of Medicine will break ground in spring of 2022 on a $150 million vertical expansion of the Steven & Susan Lipstein BJC Institute of Health in St. Louis. Designed by Lawrence Group to promote collaboration and discovery, the six-story, 160,000-sf addition will provide 103,000 sf of biomedical research space and a 7,900-sf BSL-3 laboratory for the study of infectious diseases such as SARS-CoV-2 and tuberculosis.

George Brown College broke ground in December of 2021 on a CAD$160 million mass timber building in Toronto. Designed by Moriyama & Teshima Architects and Acton Ostry Architects, Limberlost Place will house the School of Architectural Studies, the School of Computer Technology, and the Brookfield Sustainability Institute. The 10-story, 204,000-sf facility will also accommodate research labs, flexible classrooms, lecture halls, computer labs, meeting rooms, a childcare facility, and a three-story atrium.

Pennsylvania State University opened the $98.5 million Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Building in December of 2021 in University Park. Designed by HOK, the 105,000-sf facility provides the College of Agricultural Sciences with a state-of-the-art vivarium, a general-purpose classroom capable of accommodating 100 students, a 48-seat seminar room, and faculty offices.

The University of Redlands is planning to construct the 30-acre University Village adjacent to its existing campus in Redlands, Calif. Moore Ruble Yudell has been selected as the architect and planner for the public-private development, which is being created in collaboration with REACH Redlands LLC, a joint venture of Republic Metropolitan, Creative Housing Associates, and Arteco Partners.

The University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School is constructing the $325 million New Education and Research Building in Worcester. Designed by ZGF Architects and ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, the 350,000-sf facility will house the departments of neurology and neurobiology, a gene therapy center, and programs in animal research, molecular medicine, and human genetics and evolutionary biology.

The University of California, San Diego opened the $67 million Design and Innovation Building in La Jolla in November of 2021. The four-story, 74,000-sf facility is a dynamic hub for experiential learning and discovery that collocates entrepreneurial activities previously dispersed across campus. Sited adjacent to a new light rail station and an outdoor amphitheater, the multidisciplinary structure includes four distinct spaces.

The Ohio State University broke ground in November of 2021 on the $48.4 million Energy Advancement and Innovation Center in Columbus. Designed by Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects and Moody Nolan, the 66,000-sf facility will enable faculty members, students, entrepreneurs, and industry affiliates to pioneer new renewable energy technologies, smart energy systems, and green mobility solutions.

The University of Texas at Dallas and UT Southwestern broke ground on the Texas Instruments Biomedical Engineering and Sciences Building in November of 2021. Located on the East Campus of UT Southwestern Medical Center, the 150,000-sf facility will strategically collocate complementary research programs to foster the discovery and development of innovative medical solutions.

East Carolina University opened the $90 million Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building in November of 2021 in Greenville, N.C. Designed by Lord Aeck Sargent, the 141,500-sf facility provides leading-edge wet and dry labs for programs in biotechnology, bioprocessing engineering, biophysics, environmental engineering, biofuels, plant biology, environmental biology, and imaging and sensor development.

The University of Oxford began construction in November of 2021 on the £200 million Life and Mind Building in the United Kingdom. Designed by NBBJ to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, the 270,000-sf facility will house the departments of experimental psychology and biology, which will include space for programs in zoology and plant sciences.