Higher Education

San Diego State University's (SDSU) Aztec Athletic Center and Hall of Fame was topped out in April by San Diego-based Nielsen Dillingham Builders. Completion of the project is anticipated by summer of 2001. Built on an existing 184,000-sf SDSU site, the $13.67 million project is being funded by donations from the owner of the San Diego Padres. The center will house administration, coaches' offices, a central utility plant, academic, support, and media relations facilities, as well as locker and weight rooms.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is developing the new Sam and Ann Barshop Center for Longevity and Aging Studies. The Barshops donated $4 million to the Texas Research Park facility, which will provide laboratory space for scientists.

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center has plans for a comprehensive new cancer center. The $75 million, 257,350-sf outpatient facility will consolidate all existing oncology services. If approved, construction will soon begin on the planned four-story building, with completion estimated for summer of 2003.  

Massachusetts Institute of Technology has contracted Parsons Brinckerhoff as project manager for a $50 million utilities upgrade. The Cambridge-based firm will also provide resident engineering and inspection services.

The tenth University of California campus will be located in Merced, in the Central Valley of California. Design and construction of the 2,000-acre site will be managed in a joint venture of Parsons Brinckerhoff and The JCM Group. The campus will accommodate 25,000 graduate and undergraduate students at full build-out.

A new Conservatory of Music in Puerto Rico is being designed by Boston firm Domenech Hicks and Krockmalnic Architects. New administrative, academic, and performance facilities, as well as a 300-car parking garage, will be included in the $50 million rehabilitation of a historic building.

Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences' new urban campus has been completed in eight months' time. Construction began in October 1999 when Payton Construction Corp. of Boston began the transformation of a historic five-story, 56,000-sf structure plus construction of a new 5,000-sf addition. The college, which offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in several health care disciplines, will accommodate 400 students and 50 faculty and staff in classrooms, labs, auditoriums, a libarary, and academic and administrative offices.

Washington University broke ground in early October 2000 on the university's Uncas A. Whitaker Hall for Biomedical Engineering building, designed by Boston-based architects Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott. The new three-story facility will include a flexible laboratory wing comprised of 22,000 sf of wet lab space and 12,500 sf of procedure equipment and environmental areas (which will include a nanofabrication lab, vivarium, electron microscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance suites). A three-story atrium will connect the laboratory wing with faculty office pods and classrooms.

Fujitsu Laboratories plans to work with its subsidiary, Fujitsu Laboratories America, in Sunnyvale, Calif., and the University of Maryland in College Park, to create a $3.5-million research institute devoted to advanced computer technology. Beginning in April 2001, the institute will study bioinformatics, network security, wireless computing, and the impact of pervasive computing. Fujitsu anticipates a $10-million budget and a staff of 40 by 2004.

University of Delaware has selected The Lighting Practice of Philadelphia to create the lighting for two renovated buildings plus a new addition on the University’s Newark campus. The 95,000-sf Wolf Hall and McKinly Hall will be thoroughly upgraded and renovated. The Biology Department for postgraduate studies and research and the Psychology Department, which serves both undergraduates and postgraduates, occupy both halls. A new 10,000-sf addition to Wolf Hall will complete the complex.

Tufts University's Dowling Hall received an Excellence in Construction award from the Massachusetts Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors for work done by the design-builder, Newton, Mass.-based Kay Construction and Cambridge-based architectural firm, ADD Inc. The student services center and the campus safety office are housed in the seven-story, 210,000-sf building. A 152-ft glycol-heated bridge links the building with the university's upper campus.

The University of California-San Diego (UCSD) will work with the Salk Institute to construct the West Coast's largest interdisciplinary brain-imaging research facility. Construction began in November 2000 on the $13.5 million, 6,500-sf structure next to UCSD's School of Medicine. Four functional magnetic resonance imaging machines'two for human studies and two for animals'will be housed in the new structure which is scheduled for completion in October 2001.The building was designed by RBB Architects Inc. of Los Angeles. San Diego-based Soltek Pacific is the general contractor.

The University of Houston has plans for a $45 million expansion and renovation of the M.D. Anderson Library, scheduled to start in late 2001. The architect for the project is Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott in association with Houston-based Morris Architects.

University of North Texas Health Science Center has plans for a $40 million, 180,000-sf incubator for biotech and pharmaceutical companies. The initial building would be shared with the center's School of Public Health, which is in need of additional space for classrooms, faculty, and computer labs. The plan for the incubator includes production facilities, labs, equipment, and opportunities to collaborate with the researchers. Depending on the growth of the incubator, a second 200,000-sf structure may be constructed exclusively for the biotech center.

Northwestern University has awarded the Chicago office of Turner Construction Company a $25.9 million contract for the construction of the 86,0000-sf Center for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-Assembly. The new, four-story plus basement chemistry lab building will house 16 labs, faculty and graduate student offices, conference rooms, and support spaces. The project scope includes laboratory casework, fume hoods, lab equipment, and extensive M/E/P systems and temperature controls required to support the lab environments. Turner is the construction manager on the project.