Industry News

Toyota has completed the South Campus Expansion of its North American Headquarters in Torrance, Calif. Designed by LPA, the South Campus consists of five 3-story buildings totalling 625,000 sf and houses financial and customer services groups, dining, training facilities, and an event courtyard. Sustainable design was an integral part of the project. With certification on Earth Day of 2003, the South Campus became the largest LEED Gold-rated project in the country, and features the largest privately-owned rooftop photovoltaic panel system installation in the nation.

Daedong Industrial Co., a South Korean tractor manufacturer, will relocate its North American headquarters from Wilson to Wendell, N.C. Construction of the planned 183,000-sf office and warehouse facility will be managed by project general contractor R.N. Rouse & Co. of Goldsboro. Slated for completion in winter 2004, the facility will employ up to 45 workers. Daedong, maker of the orange Kioti compact diesel tractors, will receive, assemble, finish, and distribute tractor components from the new facility.

The Bullis School has opened its $8-million Blair Family Center for the Arts in Potomac, Md. Designed by Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architecture & Engineering, the center includes classrooms, performing and visual arts teaching spaces, and a 750-seat auditorium and theater. The two-story lobby accommodates a reception area for a student art work gallery. Studios for painting, printmaking, music, and sculpture are housed in the teaching wing of the building, as well as a multimedia lab. The Bullis School is a college preparatory school.

The University of Notre Dame has completed the $5-million Chemistry Research Center in Notre Dame, Ind. Designed by The S/L/A/M Collaborative, the 16,000-sf laboratory extension to the chemistry and physics complex accommodates nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging equipment for state-of-the-art molecular studies. The sophisticated design of the new chemistry facility features high bay space for the NMR equipment, four faculty research labs, and ten faculty offices.

The University of Dayton began construction on a $20-million campus residence hall in May 2003. Housing up to 400 first and second year students, the 160,000-sf facility will also accommodate conference rooms, classrooms, a free-standing chapel and a food emporium. Operations to be relocated to the facility include the bookstore, campus ministry offices, credit union, and post office. The four-story project is slated to open in August 2004. Miller-Valentine Group is the general contractor and one of the project architects is Edge and Tinney Architects.