Higher Education

California State University, San Bernardino broke ground on a $90 million expansion of Santos Manuel Student Union in June of 2019. Designed by LPA, the three-story, 120,000-sf addition will feature a multipurpose ballroom, an eight-lane bowling alley, and a game room. The project will also provide meeting and conference suites, a pub, a bookstore, food service and retail amenities, space for student organizations, student support offices, and a wellness and counseling center. The general contractor is Hathaway Dinwiddie.

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte broke ground on a $101 million science building in May of 2019. Designed to support problem-based, experiential learning, the 130,000-sf interdisciplinary facility will provide flexible classrooms, teaching labs, and research spaces for STEM programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Occupancy is expected in 2021.

Hackensack Meridian Health opened the Center for Discovery and Innovation in May of 2019 in Nutley, N.J. Located on the ON3 campus adjacent to Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University, the 250,000-sf translational research facility will accelerate the creation of innovative therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, diabetes, dementia, antibiotic-resistant infections, and autoimmune disorders. The center houses the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Institute for Multiple Myeloma, and the Institute for Cancer and Infectious Disease.

The University of Colorado broke ground in June of 2019 on a $45 million business and engineering expansion in Boulder. Designed by Anderson Mason Dale to break down traditional disciplinary boundaries and foster cross-functional student competencies, the 75,000-sf project includes the creation of an addition linking the College of Engineering and Applied Science and the College of Business.

Seattle University broke ground in May of 2019 on the $115 million Center for Science and Innovation. Designed by EYP Architecture and Engineering and Mithūn Image, the five-story, 111,000-sf facility will house the College of Science and Engineering's programs in biology, chemistry, and computer science.

The University of South Florida is planning to build the $47 million Judy Genshaft Honors College in Tampa. Funded by a $20 million donation from the former system president, the five-story, 80,000-sf facility will feature interwoven spaces including classrooms, study areas, faculty and advisor offices, event venues, collaboration spaces, and a music and computer lab. The project will support the growth of the Honors College to accommodate a total of 3,000 students within the next five years.

Trinity College Dublin opened the $90 million Trinity Business School in May of 2019 in the Republic of Ireland. Offering six stories above grade and two below, the 123,000-sf facility features an innovation and entrepreneurship hub, smart classrooms, a 600-seat auditorium, a rooftop conference room, and a 200-person dining area. Leveraging natural lighting and ventilation strategies, the project was designed to optimize occupant health and wellbeing and features a central atrium, a living wall, a brise soleil, and a double-skin façade with high-performance glazing.

The Rockefeller University dedicated the $500 million Stavros Niarchos Foundation–David Rockefeller River Campus in May of 2019 in New York. The 160,000-sf complex features the $300 million, 135,600-sf Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Research Building which provides flexible labs, two amphitheaters, offices, conference rooms, a dining area, and outdoor terraces. The two-story, horizontally oriented structure was designed to enhance collaboration and can support over 600 scientific staff.

A two-year, $55 million renovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Everitt Laboratory has transformed the four-story, 136,763-sf building into the first engineering-based medical school in the country, with a focus on medical simulation, research, and instruction. With final completion in June 2018 and the first medical classes starting in July, the Carle Illinois Medical School’s state-of-the-art features enable bioengineering students and future medical professionals to engage in project/problem-based learning and maximize their medical training by using the latest simulation and virtual reality technology.

Orange Coast College broke ground on the $36 million Kinesiology and Athletics Complex in May of 2019 in Costa Mesa, Calif. Designed by Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, the three-building, 88,000-sf project will house division offices, athletic training and adaptive physical education rooms, student support spaces, locker rooms, a 65-meter competition pool, a 25-meter instructional pool, and a covered 450-person bleacher. General contractor C.W.

Georgia Tech opened the $375 million Coda building in May of 2019. Located at Technology Square in Atlanta, the 755,000-sf innovation hub provides interdisciplinary research space for Georgia Tech's data analytics and computational science programs, as well as offering leasable offices and labs for industry partners. The 21-story tower features a central piazza with a spiral staircase leading to the Collaboration Core, a series of six three-story vertical atriums that join the wings of the building.

Virginia Tech began construction in April of 2019 on the $105 million Living Learning Community in Blacksburg, Va. Part of the planned Creativity + Innovation District, the mixed-use residential complex will provide multipurpose teaching and learning spaces on the ground floor, including teaching studios, seminar rooms, a performance hall, practice rooms, maker spaces, and shops for working with wood, metal, and paint. The upper stories of the three-wing complex will offer 596 student beds and apartments for faculty and visiting academics.

Franklin College dedicated its new Science Center in May of 2019 in Franklin, Ind. Designed by BSA LifeStructures, the $17 million renovation and expansion project transformed the existing 30,000-sf science building into a two-story, 51,000-sf facility featuring flexible learning spaces that combine laboratory and lecture functions.

The University of Notre Dame’s Campus Crossroads project, compleletd in 2017, transforms the iconic Notre Dame football stadium into a vibrant multi-use campus hub and student center with near constant activity. As the largest, most ambitious construction project in the university’s 175-year history, the stadium remodel includes the addition of three new adjacent buildings that provide more than 800,000-sf of academic, athletic, and student life space designed to increase interaction and wellbeing.

Midwestern State University is building the $40 million Centennial Hall in Wichita Falls, Texas. Housing the Gunn College of Health Sciences and Human Services, the four-story, 87,000-sf building will feature an 80-person round classroom, a learning stair, a collaborative student lounge, and a full-height atrium. The center will provide simulation training suites, classrooms, and teaching labs for programs in nursing, dental hygiene, radiologic sciences, respiratory care, and social work.