Higher Education

Okanagan College broke ground in August of 2018 on the CAD$18.9 million Health Sciences Centre in Kelowna, British Columbia. Designed by GEC Architecture to promote interaction and integration between academic departments, the collaborative facility will be constructed to attain multiple sustainable design certifications, including LEED Gold, WELL Silver, and the Zero Carbon Building Standard. The project includes construction of a 30,139-sf addition that will replace an existing 1960s-era structure.

Rice University will break ground in August of 2018 on the $38 million Kraft Hall for Social Sciences in Houston. Designed by Rogers Partners, the four-story, 73,000-sf facility will provide classrooms, labs, student lounges, faculty offices, seminar and conference rooms, and a multipurpose venue able to accommodate 300 people. Kraft Hall will house the Texas Policy Lab, the Houston Education Research Consortium, the Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance, and the Kinder Institute for Urban Research.

Purdue University Northwest broke ground in August of 2018 on the $40.5 million Bioscience Innovation Building in Hammond, Ind. Designed by CannonDesign to house the departments of nursing and biological sciences, the 68,000-sf facility will provide sophisticated teaching and research labs, collaborative classrooms, clinical simulation suites, student interaction areas, and faculty offices.

Purdue University’s new 178,000-sf Wilmeth Active Learning Center (WALC) contains seven different types of classrooms that are so integrated into the Library of Engineering and Science that “at times, you almost can’t tell the difference between them,” says Nanette Andersson, director of library facilities. The design was borne of years of study into the effectiveness of active learning and the kinds of spaces that best support it. The result is a facility that is utilized nearly 24 hours a day.

The University of North Alabama broke ground in July of 2018 on the $24 million Laura M. Harrison Hall in Florence, Ala. Designed by Create Architects, the 55,000-sf facility will provide the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions with teaching labs, simulation training suites, and faculty offices. The three-story building will feature classrooms able to accommodate up to 72 students in order to meet enrollment demands. Consolidated Construction is the general contractor for the project, which will open in fall of 2020.

The University of Nevada, Reno began construction in July of 2018 on the $92 million William N. Pennington Engineering Building. Designed by H+K Architects, the four-story, 110,000-sf facility will provide teaching and research labs for the departments of chemical and materials engineering, civil and environmental engineering, electrical and biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, and computer science.

The University of Nebraska opened a $43.9 million nursing and health complex in Lincoln in July of 2018. Designed by Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture, the three-story, 107,000-sf project accommodates both the University of Nebraska Medical Center's College of Nursing and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Health Center. The $19.8 million nursing facility features technology-rich simulation suites, collaborative classrooms, and learning areas for small groups.

The Georgia Cyber Center opened the Hull McKnight Building in July of 2018. Located on the campus of Augusta University, the facility accommodates a cyber range, a 340-seat auditorium, offices for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Cyber Crime Unit, multi-institutional classrooms and computer labs, a business incubator, and demonstration space to showcase current research. A second structure, the Shaffer MacCartney Building, is slated for completion in December of 2018, creating a 332,000-sf complex that represents a total investment of $100 million.

Red River College began construction in July of 2018 on the CAD$95 million Innovation Centre in Winnipeg. Located on the Exchange District campus, the 100,000-sf facility incorporates a repurposed heritage building and new construction to create a dynamic crossroads with advanced facilities for applied research, entrepreneurship. and commercialization.

To support its cutting-edge research in self-operated machines, the Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies (CAST) at California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is equipped with several groundbreaking capabilities that set it apart from other engineering research facilities. At the top of the list are a drone testing arena capable of mimicking a full gamut of real-world weather conditions, and a zero-gravity-simulating space lab whose epoxy resin floor has been ground and polished to a final flatness of 0.003 of an inch. Three CAST components—the aerodrome, assembly lab, and the Space Robotics Controls Laboratory (SRCL)—are located in the 1940s-era Kármán building, originally constructed for wartime hydrodynamics research. Working with CO Architects and Matt Construction, Pasadena-based Caltech renovated the bunker-like building to create new types of spaces for cross-campus collaborations in the expanding field of autonomous drones, robots, and satellites, with a focus on practical applications in science, industry, and medicine.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is planning to break ground in November of 2018 on a $134 million student housing and dining complex. Developed and operated in partnership with EdR, the $107.8 million, 267,500-sf residential project will include living units, classrooms, maker spaces, two lounges with demonstration kitchens, two computer learning commons, and music practice rooms. A $26.1 million, 38,000-sf dining commons will also be constructed, with occupancy of both structures expected in fall of 2020.

Ross University’s School of Veterinary Medicine opened the $10.5 million Research and Pathology Building in July of 2018 in Basseterre, Saint Kitts. Providing eight laboratories, the 19,000-sf facility offers 13,000 sf of research space, 4,000 sf of student space including a 1,500-sf learning center, and 2,000 sf of pathology space with suites for necropsy and histology. Designed to promote multidisciplinary collaboration and interaction, the building will support the One Health initiative in addressing the interconnectivity of animal, human, and environmental health.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) is building the new Pinnacle Memorial Hospital in York, Pa. Designed by Stantec to provide integrated, patient-centric care, the 220,000-sf facility will offer 130 private rooms, surgical suites with robotic technologies, cardiovascular catheterization labs, a labor and delivery unit, a 14-bed critical care unit, and a 28-room emergency department. An adjacent 75,000-sf building will house an outpatient surgery center, an imaging suite, an infusion center, and other support functions.

The University of Vermont is planning to build the $45 million Biomedical Research Complex in Burlington. Designed by Payette and Black River Design, the project includes construction of a 60,000-gsf (35,000-asf) facility to provide flexible, collaborative research space for the Larner College of Medicine. LEED Silver sustainable design certification will be sought for the project, which will allow faculty and staff to share resources efficiently across disciplines and departments.

The new Campus Crossroads at the University of Notre Dame is the largest construction project in the school’s 175-year history. The project, which was four years in the making, consists of three new adjacent buildings anchored to the south, east, and west sides of the iconic 87-year-old stadium. The overarching goal was to integrate academic and student life into the game day experience at a facility that previously had been used for only eight days a year—for football games and commencement. The addition of 800,000 sf of new facilities transformed it into a year-round center of athletics, academics, and student life, with classroom, research, fitness, digital media, performance, meeting, event, and hospitality space.