The University of Wisconsin-Madison broke ground in May of 2024 on the College of Letters & Science’s new Irving & Dorothy Levy Hall, a 136,000-sf facility that will serve as the new home for eight academic departments. The building was designed by Bora Architecture & Interiors in collaboration with Ramlow/Stein Architecture + Interiors, with C.D. Smith Construction serving as the construction manager.
Siemens Healthineers—a spinoff of Siemens that focuses exclusively on healthcare equipment, solutions, and services—has begun construction on a £250 million ($314 million) facility in the United Kingdom to research and manufacture a breakthrough sustainable design for MRI superconducting magnets that reduces the need for helium from 1,500 liters (more than 396 gallons) to a single liter (just over a quart).
The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) broke ground in May of 2024 on the 68,000-sf, $109.7 million Princeton Plasma Innovation Center (PPIC), a laboratory and office facility designed by SmithGroup and dedicated to research in the fields of microelectronics, quantum sensors and devices, and sustainability sciences, with a focus on achieving fusion energy by 2040.
Rice University broke ground in May of 2024 on an expanded home for the Jones Graduate School of Business in Houston. Designed by Architecture Research Office (ARO) and Kirksey Architecture, the $54.5 million project will offer a range of instructional settings including seminar rooms, team learning rooms, two 65-seat classrooms, and two 120-seat classrooms. Approximately 13 breakout rooms interwoven throughout the 112,000-sf structure will promote interaction and exchange.
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.
The University of Arizona opened the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine in Tucson in April of 2024. Designed by Line and Space, the 30,000-sf complex comprises three buildings linked by landscaped pathways. MIND provides collaborative environments for research, innovation, and administration, complemented by BODY, a wellness hub with a movement studio and a demonstration kitchen, and SPIRIT, a serene space for mindfulness, meditation, and contemplation.
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.
The University of Virginia opened the $33 million School of Data Science in April of 2024 in Charlottesville. Designed by Hopkins Architects and VMDO, the 61,000-sf facility offers collaborative environments for teaching, research, and discovery. Four adaptive classrooms equipped with integrated learning technologies will support a pedagogy based on experiential education.
Wexford Science + Technology is constructing the $1.2 billion Aggie Square on the Sacramento campus of the University of California, Davis. Designed by ZGF Architects, the innovation district is being developed in association with GMH Capital Partners. The 8.25-acre site will feature an expansive plaza framed by three glass-clad structures providing between 230,000 sf and 310,000 sf each.
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.
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.
