Latest Reports

STEM facilities built in the 1960s and 1970s aren’t up to hosting today’s science, and universities across the nation are wrestling with the question of how best to move forward. Building a new science facility isn’t always an option, due to funding limitations, insufficient swing space, or lack of administrative or political support. Fortunately, in-place transformation projects can often deliver a revitalized STEM environment for a significantly lower cost, if you begin with a solid roadmap, evaluate the building’s “bones,” and don’t underestimate your power to transform a building.

A three-story, 69,000-sf addition and 21,000-sf renovation to the Mathias Laboratory at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center greatly enhance the Institution’s capacity for environmental research in Chesapeake Bay. A two-story atrium connects the old and new sections and creates collaboration space for more than 180 researchers, technicians, and students investigating global climate change, the effects of nutrients/chemicals on the environment, fisheries, biological threats, and wetlands/woodlands protection.

Microvivaria—customized, small-scale animal research environments, built within an existing building or as new construction—are a good option when research needs dictate a smaller, more focused facility; when a location is not viable for, or proximate to, a full-scale vivarium; or when speed to uptime is key.

A two-story renovation of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Great Lakes Science Center, and the installation of filtered fume hoods, provide the facility with more flexibility and adaptability in the future. The 13,000-nsf project included demolition, renovation, and construction of wet lab and office areas, fire protection, plumbing, HVAC, and electrical on the ground and first floors of the North Laboratory Wing.

The UWM Innovation Accelerator, funded in part by a federal economic development grant as the first building in a planned Innovation Park, is a public-private partnership that collocates business, industry, and academic research to launch intellectual property. The two-story building is sited to leverage the technology available in nearby institutions, such as the Milwaukee County Medical Complex, Children’s Hospital, and the Medical College of Wisconsin, and to attract researchers, faculty, students, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and investors.