Higher Education

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.

Stanford University plans to break ground on a new 225,000-sf biotech facility, the Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering and Science. The new $130 million building will house a biotech research program dubbed Bio X which will combine researchers and scientists from over 20 departments, including medicine, engineering,  science, and various biotech and computer subspecialties. Funded by donations from Silicon Graphics for the $10 million core facilities and supercomputer, as well as funding from an anonymous donor, the facility will feature an interdisci

Santa Clara University has received a donation of $20 million, the largest in the school's history. A remodel of the university's library is allotted $15 million; the remainder will provide for scholarships.

A proposed office-classroom development at San Jose State University is being postponed due to an economic crunch. The $380 million, 5.5-acre project  would have included commercial office space and 250,000 sf of adjacent classrooms, laboratories, and staff offices. In an attempt to convert its valuable downtown land into superior staff and student facilities, SJSU would have leased on-campus office space to finance further construction. The university has hired Alameda, Calif., firm SRM Associates as a consultant for the project's future development.

The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill is planning to develop a 1,000-acre site as a satellite campus. The mixed-use development will contain commercial, research and institutional space as well as housing for faculty, staff, and students. Accommodating 25,000 employees and housing up to 3,000, the project will feature additional facilities for research in genomics and bioinformatics.

Washington University is planning to develop its Hilltop campus and School of Medicine with new buildings for education, research and patient care. The $1 billion project includes a $35 million biomedical engineering facility, the Uncas A. Whitaker Hall.