Higher Education

McGill University Health Centre has selected Boston-based Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott (SBRA) architects working with Kurt Salmon Associates Health Care (Atlanta, Ga.) and Montreal architect Jodoin Lamarre et Pratte to complete a Strategic, Master and Functional Programming initiative to move five merged (1997) hospitals into one integrated healthcare campus, creating one of the largest hospital consolidations in North America.

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania is expanding its science programs and needs additional research labs and technological upgrades. The Pennsylvania Department of General Services has contracted STV Architects of Douglassville, Pa., to design the new Kutztown University Science Center. The $14-million center will encompass the departments of biology, chemistry, marine science, physics, geography, geology, physical science, and astronomy.

North Carolina Central University in Durham will receive approximately $118 million from a recent bond issue. Of that amount, about $50 million will go toward new construction, with the balance used for renovation of existing buildings. One project will renovate five buildings at a cost of $2.5 million per building. The upgrade will include replacement of all HVAC systems as well as installation of direct digital controls.

The University of California, Davis is nearing completion of its new $54.5 million Center for the Arts. The 106,370-sf facility will include a multilevel hall to seat up to 1,800; attic area and catwalks; entrance canopy; lobby; and an attached 250-seat studio theater.

McCormick Theological Seminary has recently completed renovations to two buildings that provide graduate student housing. Knight Advanced Technology of Chicago provided architectural, mechanical, electrical design, and construction administration services for the project--a seven-story, 38,000-sf apartment tower built in the late 1960s, and a four-story, 22,000-sf apartment building built in the late 1920s.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's new medical research building, designed by Lord Aeck & Sargent of Atlanta, will have a nontraditional design, placing desks near windows to take advantage of natural light, and using interior walls for utilities. Newcomb & Boyd of Atlanta is providing mechanical and electrical engineering for the new structure, ensuring ready access to the utilities in the building.

The University of California, San Francisco’s new 43-acre research campus at Mission Bay is under construction. Phase one includes a 385,000-sf research building; a 165,000-sf center for human genetics, developmental biology, and developmental neuroscience; and a campus community center sporting food courts, a health club and pool, and a library—all scheduled to open by 2003. The developer of the huge project is Catellus.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology plans to break ground in Cambridge on the $350-million McGovern Institute for Brain Research later in 2001. Other area institutions with similar facilities include McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., which will open a $10-million brain research wing, and the University of Massachusetts Medical Center's newly-opened $12-million Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research Institute located at Worcester State Hospital in Worcester.

Meredith College has a new $20-million, 80,000-sf collaborative science building under construction. Designed by BJLAS Architecture and built by Rogers Builders of Charlotte, N.C., the facility will promote interaction by bringing together the various science subspecialties, rather than isolating them by floor. The most expensive lab space—that used by the departments of chemistry and biology—will be grouped together. Four to six students will work together at lab ‘islands’. Small group study alcoves will be located throughout the structure.

The National Museum of the American Indian will be entering the second phase of construction with completion estimated for 2004. A $140 million contract for foundation, structure, shell interior and landscaping will be awarded by the Smithsonian Institution, and construction is expected to begin in June 2001. Phase one included site preparation at the National Mall location, which cost approximately $4 million. The museum will house more than 800,000 artifacts.

The National Cathedral School began construction of a 99,000-sf underground athletic center in November 2000. The $17.5 million facility will be located underneath a soccer field and is expected to open in February of 2002. Working with the restriction that no more than 14 percent of the 57-acre National Cathedral site may be developed, the center will be accessed via a small stone pavilion containing a three-story atrium and a  40-foot freestanding climbing wall.

The Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering will be housing incoming students this fall in modular classroom and dormitory buildings. Three of the four building intended to accommodate these students, totaling nearly 300,000 sf, are in the first phase of construction and are slated for completion in early 2002. The remaining building will be ready for occupancy in April 2002, with four additional buildings to be completed as needed to reach Olin's anticipated full enrollment of 600-650 students.

Sarah Lawrence College has selected Daedalus Projects Inc. of Boston as construction project manager for the new 65,000-sf Heinbold Visual Arts Center in Bronxville, N.Y.

Harvard Medical School has completed a phased renovation of facilities for the Department of Cell Biology. Architectural Resources Cambridge, based in Cambridge, Mass., planned the project which includes biological research labs and facilities for video microscopy, micro-injection, tissue culture, and histology, as well as a frog research facility and high purity water treatment system. A frog breeding colony is accommodated in a new skylighted penthouse.

San Jose State University is collaborating with the city of San Jose to build the Martin Luther King Jr. Library. Located in downtown San Jose, the 475,000-sf, $177.5 million building will provide needed additional space for both the college and the city that neither could have funded independently. The city is providing $70 million of the cost of the eight-story building, with SJSU  supplying $5 million. $86 million will come from a California State University system capital project fund.