Information Technology

The University of Florida broke ground in October of 2022 on the Bruno E. And Maritza F. Ramos Collaboratory in Gainesville. Designed by Brooks + Scarpa, the $32 million development will add two curving wings to the existing home of the School of Design, Construction and Planning. Featuring a digital modeling and fabrication studio with 3D printers, the 50,000-sf expansion will accommodate interactive research venues, technology-enabled classrooms, seminar rooms, a multipurpose lecture hall, and a virtual design and construction lab.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst broke ground in September of 2022 on a $125 million building for the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences. Designed as a world-class hub for education, discovery, and outreach, the 90,000-gsf facility will provide research labs, interactive classrooms, maker spaces, conference and huddle rooms, and a 240-seat auditorium. The existing computer science building will be physically linked on each floor to the new development by an open, light-filled commons for graduate and undergraduate students.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)’s new Unity Hall is an academic research building focused on computational-based technologies for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), including robotics, data science, bioinformatics, and computational biology. The five-story, 100,000-sf facility brings together previously dispersed programs to create a centralized location for the university’s Smart World research cluster. In addition to dedicated labs, offices, and meeting spaces, Unity Hall houses shared dry lab and support spaces designed to foster the advanced multidisciplinary collaboration that is the hallmark of 4IR technologies. 

The University of Washington will break ground in fall of 2022 on the $102 million Interdisciplinary Engineering Building in Seattle. Designed by KieranTimberlake and McGranahan Architects, the 70,000-sf facility will act as the academic home for all undergraduate engineering students on campus.

Clark University broke ground in April of 2022 on the Center for Media Arts, Computing, and Design in Worcester, Mass. Designed by Ayers Saint Gross as a hub for interdisciplinary innovation, the two-wing structure will house the Department of Computer Science, the Becker School of Design & Technology, and some programs within the Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

UK Research & Innovation began construction in June of 2022 on the £93 million National Quantum Computing Centre in Harwell in the United Kingdom. Located on the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Campus in Oxfordshire, the 50,000-sf innovation hub will provide dry labs, collaboration spaces, meeting rooms, and offices where multidisciplinary teams will design, build, and operate quantum computers.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham broke ground on the Altec/Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building in April of 2022. Designed by Williams Blackstock Architects, the $78 million project involves the renovation and expansion of the existing Lyons-Harrison Research Building to accommodate leading-edge laboratories, computational suites, collaboration spaces, meeting rooms, and offices.

Lehigh University opened the $145 million Health, Science and Technology Building in spring of 2022 in Bethlehem, Pa. Designed by HGA to promote interdisciplinary collaboration, the 200,000-gsf facility features flexible open laboratories for research programs in biohealth, energy, and materials science. Interior glass walls enhance visibility and connectivity in the five-story structure, which includes multipurpose instructional venues, the Health Data Warehouse, and the administrative home of the College of Health.

George Mason University broke ground in April of 2022 on Fuse at Mason Square in Arlington, Va. Designed by EYP Architecture & Engineering, the $243 million facility will accommodate the Institute for Digital Innovation and graduate programs for the School of Computing. Seamlessly integrating academic, research, and commercial endeavors, the 345,000-sf building will drive collaboration among students, faculty, industry, and government partners to discover new solutions for the world’s grand challenges.

The University of Arkansas broke ground in April of 2022 on the Institute for Integrative & Innovative Research (I3R) in Fayetteville. Designed by HGA and Hufft, the $137.6 million facility will house five centers of excellence to drive discovery and commercialization in the overlapping fields of data science, food systems, materials science and engineering, integrative systems neuroscience, and metabolism bioscience and bioengineering.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas broke ground on the $75 million Advanced Engineering Building in February of 2022. Located on the Maryland campus, the three-story, 52,000-sf facility will enable the Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering to increase total enrollment from 3,000 to 5,000 students. The ground floor will provide undergraduates with numerous opportunities for experiential learning with a maker space, interactive classrooms, and a flexible auditorium and event venue.

Arizona State University completed construction in early 2022 on the $192 million Rob and Melani Walton Center for Planetary Health in Tempe. Designed by Architekton and Grimshaw, the 281,000-gsf facility provides leading-edge research labs for biological and life sciences, engineering, and sustainability, as well as offering dry labs for programs in computing, cybersecurity, and robotics.

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University opened the $90 million Harold L. Martin Sr. Engineering Research & Innovation Complex in Greensboro in February of 2022. Designed by EYP Architecture & Engineering, the four-story, 130,000-gsf building accommodates programs in cybersecurity and network systems, energy and sustainability, and health applications.

The U.S. Air Force will begin construction in spring of 2022 on the $279 million Compound Semiconductor Laboratory – Microsystem Integration Facility (CSL-MIF) in Lexington, Mass. Supporting the growth, fabrication, and characterization of semiconductors made of two or more different elements, the 160,000-sf structure will enable scientists and engineers to package heterogeneously integrated electronic prototypes for specialized applications.

The University of Arizona began construction in October of 2021 on a $42 million renovation and expansion of the historic Old Chemistry Building in Tucson. Designed by Shepley Bulfinch and Poster Mirto McDonald, the project will provide the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry with 55,000 sf of renovated space featuring four new collaborative classrooms, three teaching studios for online instruction, a visualization cave for immersive virtual learning, and technology-rich research labs.