Sustainability

Seneca College is constructing the CAD$85 million Centre for Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship in North York, Ontario. Designed by Perkins+Will, the five-story, 274,000-sf building will offer integrated facilities for applied research and commercialization, specialized training, and business incubation. Supporting the development of industry partnerships, the project will provide collaborative laboratories, maker spaces, instrumentation suites, classrooms, and a large atrium and event space.

The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering announced the category winners for 2018 ISPE Facility of the Year Awards in March of 2018. The awards include: 

The University of Lethbridge is constructing the CAD$280 million Destination Project in Alberta, Canada. Supporting multidisciplinary science programs, the 387,500-sf building will provide flexible teaching and research labs, academic classrooms, meeting rooms, gathering areas, and a central atrium. Designed to foster entrepreneurship and the commercialization of research discoveries, the facility will include incubator space for industry partners as well as a community education venue offering interactive science displays.

The University of Canterbury opened the first phase of the NZD$220 million Rutherford Regional Science and Innovation Centre in February of 2018 in Christchurch, New Zealand. Designed by Jasmax in association with laboratory design consultant DJRD, the Ernest Rutherford building provides technology-rich teaching and research space for the College of Science.

Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology opened the Project Centre for Biomedical Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing (BEAM) in March of 2018 in Hamilton, Ontario. Located in the McMaster Innovation Park, the $33 million project involved the renovation and fit-out of an existing warehouse to create a 20,000-sf innovation center offering research, office, and manufacturing space. An additional 20,000 sf on the second floor will house laboratories and offices in the future.

Duke University began construction in March of 2017 on a $115 million facility for the Pratt School of Engineering. Designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, the five-story, 150,000-gsf (88,000-nsf) building will feature two floors focused on active student learning, offering classrooms, teaching and design labs, a 200-seat auditorium, a Learning Commons, the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the Center for Energy, Engineering and Environment.

Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) has mandated that Building Information Modeling (BIM) be implemented in the final phase of its $9 billion construction program. LACCD, which is the largest community college district in the United States and comprises nine colleges, is also targeting net-zero energy consumption in the sustainable development of its extensive portfolio.

Cañada College will begin construction in spring of 2018 on the Math, Science and Technology building in Redwood City, Calif. The three-story, 50,000-sf facility will offer flexible classrooms, teaching labs, faculty offices, and an indoor/outdoor learning commons. LEED Gold sustainable design certification will be sought for the net-zero project, which will also participate in the PG&E Savings by Design Program, which provides services to help meet and exceed California’s Title 24 energy efficiency requirements.

What the university needs: A spacious, modern science building, with an additional 5,000 sf. What the university has: An old, dark, rather cramped classroom building, built for a different era in education, with inadequate systems, and no room to expand. It’s a common problem on university campuses, and in many cases solving it requires flexibility, creativity, and patience. At the University of Pittsburgh, Howard Skoke, AIA, of EwingCole Architects and Engineers and the university’s own Ilona Beresford worked together on a six-month master plan to devise a $65 million modernization. The project, scheduled to begin construction in May 2019, will open the building to new uses and adapt its systems for health and efficiency. At the same time, it will preserve a historic exterior and cost far less than a new building.

California State University-Chico will break ground in fall of 2018 on a $101 million physical sciences building. Providing teaching labs for chemistry, physics, geology, and science education, the four-story, 110,200-sf STEM facility will include active learning classrooms, graduate research studios, collaboration spaces, administrative and faculty offices, and an interactive lab for elementary school programs.

The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse is building the $82 million Prairie Springs Science Center. Designed by SmithGroupJJR and River Architects, the 187,000-sf facility will provide 36 instructional labs and 23 research labs. The LEED-certified project will create a distinctive new home for the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Geography/Earth Science, Mathematics, Microbiology, Physics, and River Studies, as well as housing the offices of the Dean of the College of Science and Health.

The University of New Mexico will begin construction in spring of 2018 on the $65.7 million Physics, Astronomy, and Interdisciplinary Science Center in Albuquerque. Designed by EYP Architecture & Engineering and Van H. Gilbert, the 139,100-gsf facility will provide a variety of collaborative teaching and research spaces as well as housing the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

The University of Copenhagen opened Maersk Tower in January of 2018 in Denmark. Designed by C.F. Møller Architects, the 460,000-sf project provides leading-edge teaching and research facilities for the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. Housing labs, classrooms, offices, auditoria, meeting rooms, and a conference center, the 16-story tower represents an extension of the Panum complex and features a science plaza at the main entrance linking the existing structures with the new tower.

The Greer Environmental Sciences Center at Virginia Wesleyan University is the institution’s response to a nearly 100 percent enrollment increase in their environmental sciences and biology department over five years. Located near the Chesapeake Bay, in Virginia Beach, the new 40,000-sf academic science building expands the university’s existing facilities to increase collaboration between science disciplines and regional partners, leveraging the school’s location at the mouth of the James River, where the 300-acre campus maintains a park-like setting with old growth forests and native wetlands in the middle of a dense, rapidly growing urban center.

San Diego State University dedicated the $95 million Engineering and Interdisciplinary Sciences Complex in January of 2018. Designed by AC Martin Architects to promote interaction and collaboration, the 85,000-sf project provides 11,500 sf of instructional space and 17 multidisciplinary labs with advanced instrumentation. The five-story facility features a nanofabrication suite, a creative design center, and an entrepreneurship hub.