Higher Education

Bucknell University has selected Ewing Cole Cherry Brott of Philadelphia to design the University’s new recreation and athletics center. The project includes a sports Hall of Fame, 4,000-seat multipurpose gymnasium with a new student fitness center, natatorium, coaches’ offices, varsity locker facilities, and renovations to the original gymnasium and natatorium. Bucknell’s new facility will connect with the existing athletic center. Construction of the athletic facility began in late November 2000 with completion in the fall of 2002.

Concordia University recently broke ground on the Walter and Maxine Christopher Center for Learning and Leadership, a 83,000-sf three-story structure designed by Holabird & Root of Chicago. The center will provide a setting for modeling ideal teaching environments and promoting the highest standards of quality care for young children.

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).

Pennsylvania State University has completed installation of a comprehensive new $1 million wayfinding and signage system at its 540-acre University Park campus. A $700-million campuswide construction program over the past five years has created difficulties, especially for new students and students with disabilities, in finding accessible pathways, building names, and accessible building entrances. The university has established an annual budget to maintain and perpetuate the new signage system.

Vanderbilt University recently broke ground for the new Jacobs Hall Addition and Renovation, a $28 million, three-story, 150,000-sf facility that will unite the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering, giving the School of Engineering a new campus identity. Classrooms, lecture halls, shop space and indoor and outdoor public gathering spaces will be located on the ground floor. Teaching and research labs will be located on the upper floors.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) broke ground in late October 2000 on a new $45-million Sports and Fitness Center designed by the architectural firms of Roche & Dinkeloo and Sasaki Associates. The MIT Center will include an Olympic-class pool and a separate teaching pool; a state-of-the-art health-fitness center; a multi-activity court for volleyball, aerobics, recreational basketball, in-line hockey, and other activities; six squash courts; a sports medicine center; administrative offices; and other support facilities.

California State University-Hayward (CSUH) is raising money for the construction of a new $20-million Business and Technology Center—a three-story, 100,000-sf facility to house the School of Business and Economics.

Thomas Jefferson University’s planned $140-million Kimmel Cancer Center, a cancer treatment and research center, will be postponed for one year as the university raises funds for the project and searches for a solution to a potentially critical parking situation envisioned when a 400-car parking garage is demolished to make way for the new center.  The planned 380,000-sf structure, designed by the architectural firm of Perkins & Will of Chicago, will reach 20 stories and include underground parking spaces for 200 cars.

University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio has broken ground on the first of three planned Regional Academic Health Centers. The Medical Education division of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Regional Academic Health Center is scheduled for completion by mid-2002. The Health Science Center will operate the new division.

Loras College has plans for a new 85,000-sf Academic Resource Center. The four-story facility will house the library, a tutorial center for writing and math, a learning disabilities center, reading rooms, coffee shop and a Barnes & Noble book store. A 3,000-sf exhibition space will be open to the public and features a rare books collection and a display of Dubuque history and archives. Data ports will be installed throughout the entire center for laptop users.

Boston University (BU) has expanded its on-campus housing with apartment-style suites that will accommodate 800 students. The new building is the first at the university's Student Village complex, which is located on 10 acres at the former Commonwealth Armory site. BU provides campus housing for over 10,000 students.

St. Mary's College will dedicate its new state-of-the-art, $25 million J.C. Gatehouse science center in early October. Special features of the 57,000-sf facility, designed by Ratcliff Associates of Emeryville, Calif., include the latest audio visual technology, with students at their workstations using laptops provided by the school; and research labs adjacent to the classrooms to foster student/professor interaction.

Iowa State University has selected Sasaki Associates of Watertown, Mass., and Baldwin White Architects of Des Moines, Iowa, for the design of the Union Drive Neighborhood at the University. A 1,200-bed residence hall will be renovated and three new 320-bed facilities will be constructed. Dining facilities for 875 people will be accommodated in a new 45,000-sf community building. In addition, computer labs, meeting rooms, a post office, game room, demonstration bakery, 75-seat café, and private dining facilities will be included in the project.

Johns Hopkins University recently dedicated the new 50,000-gsf Academic and Research Building for its Montgomery County campus at the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center in Rockville. The three-story structure features state-of-the-art research and education facilities: four computer labs; 22 "smart" classrooms configured for video conferencing, multimedia presentations, and high-speed transmission of large databases; a coffee house; a bookstore; and student meeting spaces.

Kutztown University has plans to renovate and expand its science teaching facilities. The Pennsylvania Department of General Services has contracted with STV Architects to design the $14 million Kutztown University Science Center. The Boehm and Grim Science Buildings will undergo renovation and a 70,000-sf addition to the Boehm building will be constructed. The center will accommodate and promote new technologies and will encompass the biology, chemistry, marine science, physics, geography, geology, physical science, and astronomy departments.