Master Plans

The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) has crafted a decision-making framework based on objective standards to identify and pursue the highest priorities in a massive building boom that has roughly 95 projects valued from $10,000 to $450 million currently under construction. While a large part of that activity stems from the university’s long-range master plan, a significant portion was necessitated by the devastation of Hurricane Ike, which took 1.2 million sf of the medical school’s Galveston campus out of service in 2008. 

Though it sounds counter-intuitive, trying to customize flexibility in research spaces may actually inhibit the intended outcome in the long term, according to Niraj Dangoria, associate dean of facilities planning and management at Stanford School of Medicine, and David Bendet, associate principal at Perkins+Will Architects. Designers should focus instead on the people and modularity, even when future research needs are uncertain and can change rapidly.

NASA Glenn Research Center opened the $20.5 million Mission Integration Center in Cleveland in July of 2014. The three-story, 90,000-sf facility provides collaborative research and office space to accommodate 300 employees. The project has attained LEED Gold sustainable design certification and will use 30 percent less energy and 40 percent less water than a conventional building. Construction began on the facility in September of 2010.