Research and Development

The British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) will open the 305,000-sf Aerospace Technology Campus (ATC) in Richmond, BC, in September 2007. Designed by Kasian Architecture, the $65 million campus is sited adjacent to Vancouver International Airport and will house aerospace education and training. The facility features interior acoustic tiles to minimize noise from passing aircraft and houses classrooms, workshops, and a 40,000-square-foot glass hangar that can accommodate up to 20 training aircrafts.

Michigan State University dedicated its $10 million Energy and Automotive Research Laboratories facility on August 24, 2007. The 29,000-sf building will accommodate research on engine efficiency, vehicle emission reductions, and alternate fuel and energy sources. The research facility includes a powertrain lab, two test engine cells, and a cold room for engine turnover testing in temperatures of 40 degrees below zero.

The University of Chicago has appointed Laurence Hill as Associate Vice President for Research and for National Laboratories. The position was created due to a new University contract with Fermilab and will include responsibility for site office operations, University contract management, and board staffing for Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

Santa Ana, Calif.-based Advanced Medical Optics has begun construction on the 180,000-sf Center of Excellence for Manufacturing in Milpitas, Calif. Designed by Ware Malcolm, the building is comprised of 80,000 sf of office and 100,000 sf of manufacturing, including a laser surgery demonstration/showroom, a reception area, training facilities, conference facilities, and offices. Construction is slated for completion in December 2007. The general contractor is San Francisco-based BCCI Construction.

Siemens Institute for Advanced Medicine is constructing a $150 million facility at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg. The project received $13.5 million in funding from the Canadian federal government in summer of 2007, for a total federal investment to date of $26.5 million. The 100,000-sf facility will house a neuroscience research department, surgery facilities, and R&D space for testing for advanced operating tools and technologies.

NASA broke ground on July 16, 2007 on the Exploration Sciences Building in Greenbelt, Md. Located at the Goddard Space Flight Center, the three-story environmentally friendly office and laboratory building was designed by EwingCole, an architecture and engineering firm with offices in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. M+W Zander provided laboratory planning consultation. Providing state of the art labs and technologies, the facility will accommodate research in space and earth science.

Pfizer celebrated the topping off of its new $200 million research facility in Chesterfield, Mo., in early July of 2007. Housing laboratories, office areas, and meeting spaces, the project was designed by KlingStubbins with Gilbane-Tarlton as construction manager. The new facility, built on the axis of a vibrant existing complex, is a key milestone in a master plan over twenty years in the making. The 320,000-sf research building will consolidate the St.

The University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are planning to construct the 160,000-gsf Helios Project. The facility will develop transformational energy alternatives to the United States' current reliance on fossil fuels through the research and development by UC Berkeley chemists, physicists, material scientists, and biologists. To meet this goal, a new facility is proposed for construction on the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory site.

Florida State University broke ground on the $17 million Materials Research Building in Tallahassee’s Innovation Park in June of 2007. Slated for completion by fall of 2008, the two-story, 44,000-sf building will include 13 laboratories and will house the High Performance Materials Institute and FSU’s Center of Excellence in Advanced Materials. The facility will accommodate research, design, processing, and characterization of advanced composites.

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) began construction on its Onna-Son campus in late 2006. The interdisciplinary research institute will accommodate approximately 300 faculty and 3,000 researchers in the areas of life science, neuroscience, biology, chemistry, nanotechnology, engineering, computer science, mathematics, and physics. Housing research facilities, laboratories, seminar rooms, a library, auditorium, housing, and dining, the two-site campus will feature a three-wing laboratory zone designed to maximize interaction and collaboration.

The Canadian federal government has announced the recipients of its 2007 research budget allocations. Science and technology growth will be supported by $1.3 billion in funding, including:

• $510 million to the Canada Foundation for Innovation 
• $350 million to Centres of Excellence in Commercialization and Research 
• $120 million to CANARIE to develop a next-generation research broadband network 
• $100 million to Genome Canada 
• $10 million to the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

Texas A&M University celebrated the opening of the QR520mn Engineering Research Building in Doha, Qatar, in March 2007. Located in the Qatar Foundation’s Education City, the facility is designed to be the most technologically advanced engineering research and education facility in the world. Designed by architects Ricardo Legorreta and Victor Legorreta, the complex consists of a four-story academic quadrangle connected to a three-story research building via an open multi-story atrium.

Cadence Design Systems broke ground in February 2007 on a five-story, 208,000-sf R&D center in San Jose, Calif. Housing engineering research in integrated circuits and electrical systems for the electronics industry, Building 10 will enable the consolidation of Cadence’s research and development operations in a single collaboration-enhancing technology center.

The City of New York is partnering with Alexandria Real Estate Equities of Pasadena, Calif., to develop the 1.1 million-sf East River Science Park. Groundbreaking will commence in early 2007 on the $700-million mixed-use life science campus sited on 3.5 acres in Manhattan. The first 670,000-sf phase of the project will consist of two towers, the first housing laboratory, office, and conference space; the second tower will house laboratory and office space over ground-level retail.

Yale University is developing the West Campus, an interdisciplinary research hub for disciplines including biology, chemistry, environmental science, and physics. Located on 136 acres in West Haven, Conn., the site was previously owned by Bayer and includes 17 buildings comprising 1.5 million-sf with 550,000-sf of biology and chemistry research laboratories. Renovations to the facilities will continue through summer of 2008 when initial occupancy will begin.