Industry News

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has contracted the D.C. office of URS as technical consultant for a new cancer research building. The original cancer research building was also designed by URS, an architectural and engineering services firm.

Toronto-based ManuLife Financial Corp. will build a new 470,000-sf "green" headquarters in South Boston. The 14-story building will be one of the first buildings in the nation utilizing a double-skin exterior curtainwall facade.

The California Academy of Sciences is planning a state-of-the-art "green" museum and research center in San Francisco. The center will consolidate and replace Golden Gate Park facilities including the Morrison Planetarium, the Steinhart Aquarium, and other laboratories and exhibition halls. The Academy, the oldest natural history museum on the west coast, will close in 2004 and reopen in the new complex in 2008. Currently housed in 340,000 sf,  the academy will expand to 370,000 sf and will add a multilevel rainforest exhibit.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has awarded Parsons Brinckerhoff the contract to provide program management support for a capital improvement program with an annual budget of approximately $75 million. Working in concert with the Design and Construction Services group in MIT's Facilities Department, Parsons Brinckerhoff will be involved with managing interior renovations, remodeling projects and user improvements for over 100 projects campus wide.

Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury has selected Amenta/Emma Architects of Hartford, Ct., to design a new technology classroom building for academic and community use. The $31-million project, which is being administered by the State Department of Public Works, consists of a 100,000-sf building to replace the aging Founders Hall.