Research and Development

Northwestern University has selected Flad Architects to design two new additions to the 750,000-sf Technological Institute in Evanston, Ill. A 54,000-gsf, five-story life sciences engineering addition will house the Integrated Molecular Structure Education and Research Center, electrical engineering teaching labs, core labs, and researcher offices. A 20,000-gsf, three-story addition will include an interdisciplinary cleanroom, an atrium, offices, dry labs, and flexible laboratory space.

Terra Universal’s BioSafe™ Pass-Through Chambers meet requirements for clean, aseptic processing in biotech, pharmaceutical, medical device, and other critical applications. These 304/316 electro-polished stainless steel pass-throughs feature a seamless design with coved corners and ultra-smooth surfaces that eliminates cracks, corners and other contaminant traps, making them easy to clean and sterilize. No-lip edges eliminate clearance obstructions for easy material transfer into and out of a bio-cleanroom.

The Coriell Institute for Medical Research will begin construction in April of 2008 on a $6 million renovation of its genetic research facility in Camden, N.J. The project will include renovation of 21,500-sf on the second and third floors of the five-story building and $50,000 of improvements to cell culture laboratories on the fourth floor. The duration of construction is estimated at 18 months.

The University of Michigan dedicated the Robert H. Lurie Nanofabrication Facility at the School of Engineering in Ann Arbor on April 12, 2008. Designed by SmithGroup, the project is a 32,000-sf addition to the existing Solid State Electronics Laboratory (SSEL) cleanroom facility. Featuring a three-level cleanroom concept, the project includes a fab, sub-fab, and mechanical space.

Cornell University is engaged in a $6 million renovation to create a biofuels laboratory in Ithaca, N.Y. The project involves the renovation of 11,500-sf of former agricultural engineering, power, and machinery lab space in Riley Robb Hall. Completion is slated for January of 2009. Housing fermenters, incubators, and analytical equipment, the facility will accommodate between 12 to 18 faculty members and 25 graduate students currently dispersed in other campus locations.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is constructing the 54,423-sf Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) on 15 acres in Pittsfield Township near Ann Arbor, Mich. The single-story facility, which will double the footprint of the existing Traver Village laboratory, broke ground in fall of 2007 and is slated for completion in late 2008. The GLERL will support research on water levels, invasive species, drinking water, and recreational and commercial opportunities.

The University of Rochester has received $50 million from the State of New York’s Upstate Revitalization Fund to construct the Clinical and Translational Science Institute. The 150,000-sf facility will house labs and offices for the development and commercialization of medical research.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is planning to construct the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) in Lead, S.D.  Providing research space 8,000 feet underground, the laboratory will be located in the former Homestake gold mine. Construction will begin in 2012. In the interim, the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority is constructing the Sanford Underground Laboratory in the Homestake shaft at a depth of 4,850 feet. The Sanford lab will initiate its first physics experiments beginning in late 2008.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore dedicated Building Two at its BioPark development in April of 2008. The six-story, 238,000-sf research facility will house tenants including the Institute for Genome Services, Gliknik, Paragon Bioservices, Westat, and the 38,000-sf Baltimore City Community College’s Bioscience Institute. The first two BioPark buildings were developed by Wexford Science & Technology. UMB broke ground on Building Three in spring of 2008. BioPark’s $500 million, 1.2 million-sf campus will be comprised of ten buildings upon completion.

The $60 million HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology will officially open in the Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Ala. in April of 2008. Housing 12 for-profit companies and 900 employees, the facility will support Alabama’s high tech, biotech, and clinical research industries to address a variety of diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative diseases. Designed by Cooper Carry, the 270,000-sf project is the cornerstone of the 150-acre CRP Biotech Campus.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is planning a renovation and expansion of the Jonsson-Rowland Science Center in Troy, N.Y.  The project aims to reduce existing deferred maintenance costs on the facility, constructed in 1961, by $20 million. An addition called the New Center for Science will connect via a glass atrium to the existing science center and will add 100,000-sf to 120,000-sf of wet laboratories for biology and physics teaching and research. Renovations to the existing facility will create dry labs, classrooms, offices, and conference rooms.

Johns Hopkins University opened the John G. Rangos Sr. Life Sciences Building in East Baltimore, Md., on April 11, 2008. The University will occupy 100,000-sf of lab and office space in the 278,000-sf facility. The $60 million, seven-story building will provide interdisciplinary research space for the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences in the areas of epigenetics, sensory biology, cell dynamics, and metabolism and obesity research.

Roche Molecular Diagnostics (RMD) opened a $57.5 million research facility at its global headquarters campus in Pleasanton, Calif., on April 3, 2008. Designed by DES Architects + Engineers to meet LEED sustainable design criteria, the project will enable RMD to complete the consolidation of its West Coast operations. The 135,000-sf facility was built by DPR Construction and features molecular biology and core support laboratories.

The University of Alberta is constructing the $12 million Centre for Prions and Protein Folding Diseases in its Environmental Engineering Buildings in Edmonton. The first phase of the project, which opened in December of 2007, consists of two renovated laboratories. Phase two is comprised of four additional laboratories housing researchers from the faculties of Science, Medicine & Dentistry, and Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences.

The University of California, Los Angeles is building the 175,000-gsf Life Sciences Replacement Building (LSRB). The project began in June of 2007 and is slated for completion in spring of 2010. Housing the departments of physiological science, ecology and evolutionary biology, and molecular, cellular and developmental biology, the $155 million research laboratory is comprised of two seismically separated five-story wings with a shared basement.