Collaboration

Elizabethtown College is building the $24 million Bowers Center for Sports, Fitness and Well-being. Designed by CannonDesign, the 82,000-sf facility will include three recreation courts, an indoor track, a field house with tennis courts, locker rooms, a demonstration kitchen, a café, a collaboration lounge, and areas for yoga, weight training, and group fitness. Illuminated by abundant natural light, the center will provide space for individual and group counseling, educational workshops, and peer education activities.

Construction will begin in late 2018 on the £20 million Maritime Knowledge Hub in Birkenhead in the United Kingdom. Located in the Wirral Waters redevelopment, the collaborative maritime education and research facility is being created by a partnership of Liverpool John Moores University, Peel Land and Property, Mersey Maritime, and Wirral Council.

Rowan University and Rutgers University-Camden are building the Joint Health Sciences Center in Camden, N.J. Designed by HOK, the $70 million project comprises two joined buildings offering classrooms, laboratories, offices, and research space. Camden County College will also utilize the four-story, 95,000-sf complex, which will include a 30,000-sf simulation training center for Rowan’s School of Osteopathic Medicine and CCC’s allied health program.

Cardiff University will begin construction in September of 2018 on the £50 million Innovation Central facility in Wales in the United Kingdom. Designed by Hawkins\Brown to promote collaboration between academic and industry partners, the 129,167-sf project will include the SPARK social science research hub and a business incubator with shared spaces, labs, and serviced offices.

The SPARK Academic Innovation Hub at Washington State University was designed to serve as a campus-wide resource, increase transparency on campus, and promote cross-field collaboration, enhanced by a combination of high-tech digital classrooms and informal spaces. The building creates a gateway to the southern edge of the campus, with its network of flexible, technology-enabled learning environments connected to a central commons, which serves as a public presentation and event space.

Marshall University broke ground in June of 2018 on a 49,722-sf facility for the School of Pharmacy in Huntington, Va. Strategically located on the Edwards School of Medicine's Fairfields Campus to promote interdisciplinary education, the three-story building will provide teaching, research, administrative, and communal spaces. Created in partnership with developer Signet, the $56 million project also includes construction of a five-story, 200-unit graduate student housing complex.

Virginia Commonwealth University and VCU Health broke ground in June of 2018 on a $349 million outpatient facility in Richmond. Designed by HDR, the 16-story, 603,000-sf project will provide a consolidated location for VCU Massey Cancer Center's outpatient services, as well as housing diagnostic labs, imaging suites, a rehabilitation center, and clinical space for orthopedics, pulmonology, urology, and gynecology.

Williams College opened the $66 million South Science Building in June of 2018. Located in Williamstown, Mass., the 78,000-sf interdisciplinary teaching and research facility provides 30 laboratories, 31 faculty offices, a microscopy suite, and a machine shop with a design lab, 3D printers, and laser and plasma cutters. Designed by Payette to promote interaction and collaboration, the four-story, 78,000-sf building accommodates programs in biology, chemistry, and physics.

Washington State University broke ground in June of 2018 on the $66 million Plant Sciences Building in Pullman. Providing 15 wet labs, three dry labs, and multiple collaboration spaces, the four-story 82,476-sf facility will accommodate research programs in horticulture, plant biochemistry and pathology, and crop and soil science. The project team includes LMN Architects, laboratory design consultant Research Facilities Design (RFD), and design-build contractor Skanska.

The University of California, San Diego broke ground in June of 2018 on the $627 million North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood. Covering over 10 acres, the 1.6 million-gsf mixed-use project will provide 2,000 undergraduate beds, 1,200 underground parking spaces, a craft center, and dining and retail amenities. New academic facilities will include the Public Engagement Building to accommodate social sciences programs, and an arts and humanities facility housing the departments of history, literature, and philosophy.

Purdue University began construction in June of 2018 on a $14 million addition to the Martin C. Jischke Hall of Biomedical Engineering in West Lafayette, Ind. Designed by BSA LifeStructures, the 29,500-sf Innovation Wing will provide the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering with open-concept wet labs; translational research labs, including a behavioral core; a multidisciplinary student design lab; and support spaces. The addition will also offer active learning environments, offices for faculty and graduate students, and interactive team areas.

Renovating an old science complex can be a cost-effective way to transform a 1970s relic into an education facility for the 21st century. The Gant Science Complex, built between 1970 and 1974 on the Storrs campus of the University of Connecticut, is big—285,000 sf—but outdated and environmentally inefficient, with an R value in the single digits. It also reflects old-fashioned science teaching and research methods, making it hard to enable the kind of collaborative learning used today.

The University of Connecticut celebrated the opening of the $95 million Engineering and Science Building in June of 2018 in Storrs. Designed by Mitchell Giurgola Architects, the five-story, 118,000-gsf structure provides open-concept laboratories, instructional spaces, collaboration areas, and faculty offices to accommodate STEM programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The Pennsylvania State University celebrated the opening of the 93,500-sf Agricultural Engineering Building in June of 2018 in University Park. The $44 million project included a 16,000-sf renovation of the historical front section of the structure, demolition of the remainder of the building, and approximately 77,000 sf of new construction.

Virginia Commonwealth University broke ground on the $93 million Engineering Research Building in June of 2018 in Richmond. Designed by Goody Clancy, Baskervill, and Smith McClane Architects, the collaborative 133,000-sf facility will provide the College of Engineering with teaching and research labs, interaction areas, and offices. Supporting an experiential curriculum, the project will feature the 9,000-sf Innovation Maker Facility housing 3D printers and other prototyping and fabrication technologies.