Collaboration

Clemson University is planning to break ground in late 2024 on a $285.5 million facility for the College of Veterinary Medicine. Addressing a nationwide shortage of veterinarians, the 232,500-gsf complex will offer sophisticated learning environments for programs in animal health. The development will support a distributed pedagogical model that prepares students to go directly to local animal hospitals for training and clinical study, instead of spending several years in a teaching hospital.

Merck celebrated the beginning of construction for the $325 million Advanced Research Center in April of 2024. Located on the company's Darmstadt headquarters campus in Germany, the biopharmaceutical innovation facility will accelerate the development of novel processes and materials for the production of antibodies, recombinant proteins, and viral vectors. The flexible structure will also drive advances in pharmaceutical purification, formulation, and analytical chromatography.

Savannah River National Laboratory is constructing the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative (AMC) on the campus of the University of South Carolina Aiken. Designed by Page and STOA Architects, the $50 million facility will enable the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management to engage in shared discovery with academic institutions, industry partners, and government agencies at the city, state, and federal level.

The University of Montana is planning to construct a new home for the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation in Missoula. Designed by ZGF Architects and A&E Design, the 60,000-sf project will collocate facilities currently dispersed across campus in a vibrant hub for teaching and research. This living laboratory will serve as a teaching tool for sustainable forestry and wood construction spanning design, material application, and supply chain transparency. 

A study of three academic medical centers constructed in 2009, 2014, and 2020 reveals little change in the square footage of research spaces over time but a radical change in how the square footage is being used. The result is research space that is more efficient, flexible, adaptable, and functional, with a higher percentage of space dedicated to lab support. The metrics gathered in this study can help guide lab planners as they look to the future.

Michigan Tech opened the H-STEM Engineering and Health Technologies Complex in Houghton in March of 2024. HED designed the collaborative facility to drive academic excellence in health-related fields and accelerate the creation of human-centered technological innovations. Positioned in the heart of campus, the development collocates researchers in materials science, engineering, and neuroscience with faculty from kinesiology and integrative physiology.

The University of Colorado opened the $22 million Anschutz Engineering Center on its Colorado Springs campus in April of 2024. Designed by OZ Architecture, the three-story, 23,000-sf annex provides the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences with teaching and research labs, maker spaces, and active learning environments. The high-performance facility also includes an aerospace engineering lab, an executive conference room, computer labs, classrooms, and faculty offices.

Siemens AG opened an innovation complex in April of 2024 that will consolidate its corporate research activities in Germany. The 140,000-sf facility was created in partnership with Technical University of Munich and is strategically sited in the institution’s science park. Siemens Technology Center Garching supports 450 engineers working in collaboration with 150 academic investigators to advance industrial artificial intelligence and data analytics. State-of-the-art labs are complemented by modern workspaces, conference rooms, and training areas.

Western Kentucky University is constructing the $75 million Gordon Ford College of Business in Bowling Green. Designed by Gensler to promote student-faculty interaction, the 113,000-sf building will transform undergraduate and graduate business education in the region and fulfill an important component of WKU’s campus master plan. The open and collaborative structure will include a three-story atrium, 21 technology-rich classrooms, an auditorium, a virtual reality suite, and a trading lab with access to Bloomberg Terminals.

Delancey is planning to construct a £400 million innovation hub in London's Knowledge Quarter. Designed by Gardiner & Theobald and KPF, the 194,000-sf structure will offer 130,000 sf of leasable research space for biomedical companies, technology firms, and start-up enterprises. The highly adaptable facility will feature next-generation laboratories, traditional and open offices, a maker space, and a community event venue. Typical floors will have access to an amenity terrace with a range of interactive settings.

Carnegie Mellon University broke ground in early 2024 on the $252 million Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences in Pittsburgh. Designed by ZGF Architects and R3A Architecture, the 338,900-sf complex will advance a new era of data-driven research, cross-disciplinary education, and creative expression. The transformative development will collocate the College of Science and the School of Computer Science with the Institute for Contemporary Art Pittsburgh in a prominent city intersection to foster connections with the local community.

The University of Maryland dedicated the $132 million Chemistry Building in College Park in April of 2024. The 105,000-sf facility features 34 modular laboratories for research programs in molecular nanoscience, quantum chemistry, advanced materials, energy storage, and drug discovery and delivery. Featuring robust climate controls and vibration mitigation technologies, the six-story structure houses two core facilities, 12 meeting and huddle rooms, open office environments, and 13,000 sf of collaboration space.

Data from recent studies analyzing space utilization at colleges and universities across the country indicates a post-pandemic shift toward supporting hybrid education models that blend remote learning with in-person instruction. The studies were designed to analyze the impact of technology-intensive hybrid and experiential learning modalities on higher education while identifying key considerations, best practices, and metrics that can help space planners create more efficient, flexible environments that meet the needs of today’s students, faculty, and staff. Notably, in addition to an increased acceptance of remote learning, students and faculty also desire a return to in-person learning. This dichotomy is driving institutions to adapt hybrid education models that combine online education with active-learning classrooms that require sophisticated IT infrastructure and casual social environments that facilitate informal learning and collaboration.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology dedicated the new home of the Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing in Cambridge in April of 2024. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed Building 45 as a dynamic campus crossroads where diverse groups can connect and engage in shared discovery. The eight-story, 178,000-sf facility offers sophisticated research environments for the study of artificial intelligence and machine learning designed by laboratory planner RFD.

Baylor College of Medicine is constructing the $260 million Lillie and Roy Cullen Tower in Houston. The 503,000-sf facility will strategically collocate the School of Medicine and the School of Health Professions next to the Texas Medical Center’s Helix Park. The technology-rich building will feature studio classrooms, lecture halls, teaching labs, and an expansive atrium that can function as a 500-seat auditorium.