Higher Education

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.

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.

A two-year, $75.7 million renovation of the National Archives Building is under way, with 90 percent estimated to reach completion by July 1, 2003. Grunley Construction of Rockville, Md., has been contracted to renovate 300,000 sf of public and office space, including the rotunda, staircase, roof, installation of an elevator, and construction of a $7 million privately funded 294-seat theater.

San Diego State University is planning to break ground on a new 14-megawatt energy cogeneration plant in conjunction with a campuswide conservation effort. Design of the $20 million facility will is scheduled to begin in May 2001 with construction beginning in summer. Expected to be online by summer of 2002, the plant is a long-term solution to rising energy costs. Replacing the existing 3-megawatt cogeneration plant that supplies only a third of the university's energy, the new plant will generate enough electricity for the entire campus.

Sonoma State University at Rohnert Park has completed construction of the Environmental Technology Center, a 2,230-sf student environmental science building. Built by the Sacramento, Calif. office of McCarthy, the facility will serve as a public demonstration project and features sustainable, state-of-the-art, energy efficient architecture and design. To reduce chemical agents and improve concrete density, an experimental concrete mix was used that contains high concentrations of industrial by-products fly ash and rice hull ash.

University of Vermont College of Medicine and Fletcher Allen Health Care have broken ground on the Renaissance Project, a $173.4 million project uniting the two institutions in education, research, and patient care. The project includes construction of a new Education and Conference Center with a medical library, lecture hall, auditorium, classrooms, and study areas for small groups. The project will relocate outpatient specialty clinics from Fletcher Allen's University Health Campus to a new Ambulatory Care Center.

The University of Pennsylvania Riverview Campus master plan was recently completed by Cambridge-based Tsoi/Kobus & Associates. The 20-acre Philadelphia Civic Center site will be transformed into a mixed-use healthcare and research center serving the needs of the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania.

California Polytechnic University, Pomona is completing construction of the Engineering Laboratory Replacement Project phase two--a $20 million, two-story, 117,900-sf facility accommodating engineering labs, classrooms, and offices. Nielsen Dillingham Builders of San Diego is in charge of construction. Architect for the project is Leo A. Daly of Omaha, Neb.  The civil engineer is Boyle Engineering of Newport Beach, Calif.

Emory University has three projects under construction targeted to meet LEEDTM standards: an interdisciplinary science building, Science 2000 Phase Two; the Winship Cancer Institute; and the Whitehead Biomedical Research Building.  In the Winship building and the 325,000-sf Whitehead building, enthalpy heat wheel devices are expected to pay for themselves through reduced energy costs in five to seven years. Approximately $326,000 of the Winship building’s $60-million price tag is LEEDs related, a percentage expected to prevail in the other buildings.

Washington University's John M. Olin School of Business has selected Cambridge-based Tsoi/Kobus & Associates (TK&A) to program and develop a conceptual design for expansion. Simon Hall is slated to be reprogrammed to increase building efficiency and to provide needed administrative and study facilities. The 157,000-sf Earth and Planetary Sciences building at Washington University will also be designed by TK&A. 

Wartburg College is expanding and renovating Becker Hall of Science. Currently housing the departments of biology, chemistry, computer science, mathematics and physics, the existing 50,000-sf Becker Hall will be renovated to provide office, storage, and classroom facilities. The building currently houses instructional laboratories, a greenhouse, an animal room, a 100-seat auditorium, computer rooms and classrooms. The 55,000-sf addition will contain an auditorium, laboratories, and state-of-the-art technology for flexible classrooms/seminar rooms.

The 10th 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 be capable of accommodating 25,000 graduate and undergraduate students at full build-out.

The University of Washington broke ground on a new $80 million Law School building in May 2001. Construction of the 196,000-sf, four-story building will begin in September and is slated for completion in summer of 2003. Named the William H. Gates Hall, the facility will include a 10,000-sf reading room with stacks occupying approximately 40,000 sf. The building will also feature a 170-person classroom equipped as a trial court, law clinics, seminar rooms, additional instructional areas, as well as offices for staff, faculty, and graduate students.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology is planning to build the new Neuroscience Center, a research complex housing multiple academic departments. The facility will be focussed on understanding the human brain from cellular, molecular, genetic, and behavioral perspectives. MIT has selected architects Goody, Clancy & Associates for the project, with Charles Correa Associates as consulting architect.

The University of Hartford has selected William Wilson Associated Architects Inc. of Boston to design, plan and program its new technology complex. The $30 million facility will house sciences, engineering, technology, and technology services.