Collaboration

BMW Group opened the FIZ Projekthaus Nord complex in Munich in September of 2020. Representing an expansion of the company's existing R&D campus, the collaborative facility provides 1.6 billion square feet of space for engineering, research, collaboration, and administration. Comprising two office structures and a test-bench building, the integrated complex offers a dynamically connected work environment enabled by 20,000 servers and a data storage capacity of 90 petabytes.

Nottingham Trent University broke ground in October of 2020 on a £15 million facility for the Institute of Health & Allied Professions in Nottingham in the United Kingdom. Located on the Clifton campus, the 34,000-sf building will provide simulation training environments such as mock hospital wards, emergency rooms, consultation suites, and home care settings. High-fidelity manikins will enable students to practice clinical skills in real-world settings.

Wayne State University opened the 100,000-sf STEM Innovation Learning Center in Detroit in October of 2020. Designed as a campus hub for project-based learning and discovery, the interdisciplinary facility features flexible classrooms, wet and dry teaching labs, maker and hacker spaces, a 3D printing lab, and a student commons. Small groups can meet and interact in collaboration zones with integrated whiteboards and projection screens.

California State University, Dominguez Hills completed construction in September of 2020 on the $71.5 million Science & Innovation Building in Carson. Designed by HGA Architects and Engineers with Research Facilities Design (RFD) as laboratory design consultant, the 87,000-sf facility provides classrooms, labs, and faculty offices to support programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Merck KGaA opened the $58.5 million Centre for Electronic Applications in September of 2020. Located on the company's headquarters campus in Darmstadt, Germany, the 118,400-sf facility will accelerate the discovery and development of next-generation materials for semiconductors and displays. Providing collaborative lab and office environments for 140 employees, the structure features a sophisticated building façade with dynamic liquid crystal windows that can be easily adjusted to minimize glare and heat gain. Construction began on the project in summer of 2017.

The University of Washington and Gonzaga University broke ground in September of 2020 on a $60 million medical education hub in Spokane. Supporting the Regional Health Partnership initiative, the 90,000-sf facility will offer classrooms, interactive learning environments, research labs, an anatomy suite, and administrative offices. McKinstry, the developer of the public-private project, will own and manage the building, which will provide leased space for the UW School of Medicine and Gonzaga's programs in human physiology and nursing.

Front Range Community College opened the $35 million Health Care Careers Center (HCCC) in September of 2020 in Fort Collins, Colo. Designed by Hord Coplan Macht, the 61,000-sf facility offers technology-rich classrooms, teaching labs, collaboration spaces, and group learning venues for programs in nursing and allied health professions.

As the landscape for academic institutions grows more competitive, determining how human factors impact the design of STEM facilities is becoming a significant consideration when it comes to attracting students and research faculty. As a result, team members at Francis Cauffman Architects are developing a set of metrics to identify and assess the value of design features that influence occupant experience in academic STEM spaces with the goal of creating an index that can be used to inform future renovation and new construction projects. Human factor points are allocated to spaces and design features that have a demonstrated positive impact on student enrollment, result in high levels of user satisfaction, and accommodate the teaching and research goals of the facility. In a post-COVID world, this additional evaluation tool may be more important than ever.

The University of Tennessee at Martin broke ground on the $65 million Latimer Engineering and Science Building in September of 2020. Designed to foster cross-disciplinary innovation and discovery, the 120,000-sf STEM facility will offer teaching labs, student research labs, and classrooms for the departments of mathematics, statistics, computer science, engineering, chemistry, and physics. The three-story structure will also include an entrepreneurship hub and collaborative project areas. Occupancy is expected in fall of 2022.

Bowling Green State University dedicated the $44.2 million Robert W. and Patricia A. Maurer Center in September of 2020 in Bowling Green, Ohio. Designed by The Collaborative and Perkins+Will, the 89,800-sf project included the construction of a 50,000-sf addition and the renovation of Hanna Hall to create a new home for the Schmidthorst College of Business.

Northwest Vista College broke ground on the $34 million STEM Building in September of 2020 in San Antonio. Designed by Overland Partners, the 52,550-sf facility will accommodate innovative programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Offering project-based learning environments and flexible, general-purpose classrooms, the multidisciplinary structure will include teaching labs, tutoring suites, outdoor classrooms, and faculty and administrative offices.

The University of Minnesota Twin Cities opened the $108.6 million Health Sciences Education Center in September of 2020 in Minneapolis. Designed by Perkins+Will and The S/L/A/M Collaborative to accommodate interprofessional education programs, the 202,000-sf facility provides active learning classrooms, a teaching visualization lab, a maker space, study areas, a faculty commons, and a sophisticated library.

Cape Cod Community College broke ground on the $38 million Frank & Maureen Wilkens Science and Engineering Center in August of 2020 in West Barnstable, Mass. The two-story, 37,000-sf STEM facility will feature interactive classrooms, technology-rich labs, a maker space, gathering areas, and flexible multiuse learning venues. Designed as an innovation hub for the creation and commercialization of new technologies, the center will encourage regional economic growth through collaborative training programs with industry partners.

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the need for the research community to respond quickly to changing markets and to understand the value of laboratory spaces that are flexible, adaptable, and scalable. We’ve seen stadiums converted to makeshift hospitals, “drive-through” testing sites pop up in vacant parking lots, and testing laboratories continually ramp up production to expedite results. This quick-thinking behavior has been inspiring to witness but daunting to execute. Laboratories, by nature, are among the most complex building typologies, where the utmost importance is protecting both the health and safety of their occupants and the integrity of the research. The complexities of the resulting design can be challenging to undertake, but when faced with the extreme circumstances of a pandemic, it is possible to expedite the process with a combination of strategies.

The University of North Carolina Wilmington opened the $66 million Veterans Hall in August of 2020. Housing the College of Health and Human Services, the 145,000-sf facility accommodates programs in nursing, social work, allied health, and exercise science.