Higher Education

Princeton University has contracted with R.M. Shoemaker Co. of West Conshohocken, Pa., to provide preconstruction services for their new 200-bed, 88,000-sf upper-class dormitory. The facility will include paired singles with semi-private bath, four-room four-person suites with bath, and single rooms with common bathrooms along a corridor. In addition, a variety of study rooms, lounge, and laundry facilities are to be provided on each floor, including a central lounge with kitchen and dining area.

Drexel University’s new Laurence A. Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship in Technology, scheduled to open in fall 2001, is being designed by IA/Interspace. The center will house a cybercafe and a multi-purpose presentation room for student presentations of business plans to potential investors. Drexel has contracted with the Port of Technology in nearby University City to run the Baiada Center.

Pennsylvania State University is considering approximately $140 million in projects at the University City campus. A $31 million parking garage is planned, and a medical facility shared with The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is under consideration. The medical complex would combine ambulatory services, cancer care, and research space.

Independence Park Institute, a $10 million educational building designed by Kallman, McKinnell and Wood Architects, will house interactive educational space for student visitors to Independence Mall each year. The building is as yet unfunded, but construction is scheduled to begin in December 2001, with completion in 2002. Construction at other Independence Mall sites includes the $12 million Liberty Bell Pavilion, the $40 million Visitors Center, and the $130 million National Constitution Center?all scheduled to open beginning fall 2001 through 2003.

The Mount Sinai School of Medicine has selected Tsoi/Kobus & Associates to assist in redesigning its medical education facilities within an existing tower. The new facilities will consolidate approximately 120,000 sf of existing teaching, library, and administrative space, using centralized information technology and media services. The Morchand Center for Clinical Competence will be expanded, and a new Minimally Invasive Surgery Education Center will be established.

The University of Notre Dame has chosen The S/L/A/M Collaborative to design a new 200,000-sf undergraduate science teaching building. The project is the implementation of the first phase of the College of Science master plan and will provide state-of-the-art teaching labs and support space for the departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Biological Sciences, and Physics. Research Facilities Design is the laboratory building design consultant.

Central College's Vermeer Science Center renovation and addition design has been completed by Holabird & Root. The Center will house classroom, laboratory, and office space for the disciplines of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Pre-Engineering, Environmental Studies, Mathematics, and Computer Science. A new greenhouse, museum display areas, and a special collections science library and reading room are also new spaces. The Center includes a 40,000-gsf wrap-around expansion to the 30,000-gsf existing facility.

Drexel University has expansion plans -- a new $30 million, 150,000-sf research facility, and, at the LeBow College of Business, a new $8 million, 40,000-sf structure. Over the last four years, the university has also built two residence halls -- the $22 million, 171,000-sf North Hall, and the $15 million, 109,000-sf East Hall

The State University of New York at New Paltz is expanding its residential accommodations for students. The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York awarded STV Architects of Douglassville, Pa., two contracts for the first newly designed and constructed housing to be built at the campus in 30 years. The first of these dormitories is currently in construction and STV will design a new 200+ bed residence hall to sit adjacent to it on the same site. The 62,000-sf, four-story facility is designed with three-person units, with two rooms in each unit.

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.