Sustainability

The University of Michigan has completed the second renovation phase of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Laboratory in Ann Arbor. Designed by Lord Aeck Sargent, the $11.1 million project included construction of a 10,161-sf addition to house the University of Michigan Energy Institute and the creation of advanced laboratory space on the second floor of the existing building. The completed facility includes a 2,108-sf chemistry lab with 12 fume hoods, a 1,082-sf chemistry lab with two fume hoods, research offices, and an executive conference room.

The University of Wyoming began construction on the $50 million Michael B. Enzi STEM Facility in Laramie in January of 2014. The three-story, 100,000-sf facility will provide 32 teaching labs for chemistry, biology, organic chemistry, physics, mathematics, and computer science. The building will also include eight prep rooms, eight offices, a commons area, and an atmospheric sciences lab to support collaborative research with the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center in Cheyenne.

Founders of the J. Craig Venter Institute’s new 45,000-sf laboratory facility in La Jolla, Calif., aspire to create a technological marvel that not only defies the tradition of energy-intensive biological laboratories, but that also initiates a new generation of facilities that have both low environmental impact and an excellent working environment. In its founder’s words, the Institute is “a unique design that will meld the environmental philosophies of our genomics research with the sustainability goals that I believe must be part of all of our lives.”

Colby College is building the $18.6 million Davis Science Center in Waterville, Maine. Providing classrooms, computer labs, faculty offices, and research space, the 36,400-sf facility will house the departments of mathematics and statistics, computer science, and psychology. LEED sustainable design certification will be sought for the center, which will feature a robotics laboratory and a behavioral neuroscience research suite. Completion is expected in fall of 2014.

The New School will open its $372 million University Center in New York in January of 2014. The facility will act as an interdisciplinary hub for all of the university's programs. The 16-story, 375,000-sf building includes seven floors of academic space with dormitories on the remaining nine. Designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the facility will provide a 600-seat auditorium, flexible classrooms, lecture halls, learning studios, a library, student and faculty resource rooms, and an event café.

Trident Technical College will open a 90,000-sf science and nursing building in January of 2014 in North Charleston, S.C. The $30 million facility will feature a 291-seat tiered lecture hall that can be divided into smaller instructional spaces, as well as teaching labs, classrooms, a clinical simulation suite, and a nursing resource center. LEED Silver sustainable design certification will be sought for the building. The project team included design architect LS3P Associates and general contractor China Construction America.

University Hospital of Northern B.C. broke ground in December of 2013 on the Northern Health Learning and Development Centre in Prince George. Developed in partnership with the Province of British Columbia, the University of Northern British Columbia, and the University of British Columbia, the $10 million project will provide a clinical simulation center, seminar rooms, a library, and video conferencing suites for advanced medical instruction and training.

Northeastern University will break ground in January of 2014 on a $225 million science and engineering research facility in Boston. The six-story, 220,000-sf building will provide open wet and dry labs, classrooms, faculty offices, a 280-seat auditorium, and an atrium. Designed by Payette, the interdisciplinary facility will house advanced instrumentation for shared use by the colleges of science, engineering, health sciences, and computer and information science. LEED sustainable design certification will be sought for the project.

Trios Health is building the $112 million Southridge Hospital in Kennewick, Wash. Designed by PKA Architects of Portland, the four-story, 168,000-sf facility will feature a daylight basement with a restaurant, 74 beds in 300-sf private rooms, 14 intensive care beds, and 27 trauma and emergency rooms. The hospital will also provide an advanced imaging suite and six 640-sf operating rooms. C.D. Smith Construction began building the sustainably designed facility in 2012 and occupancy is expected in late spring of 2014.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) opened the $25 million Science and Engineering Laboratory Building in fall of 2013. Designed by BSA LifeStructures in conjunction with Blackburn Architects, the collaborative 45,000-sf facility houses multidisciplinary research labs, classrooms for the School of Science and the School of Engineering and Technology, meeting rooms, and administrative space.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) today announced the release in November of 2013 of seven new Sustainable Projects (SP) contract documents. The release includes SP versions of the AIA’s two families of Construction Management documents, Construction Manager as Adviser (CMa) and Construction Manager as Constructor (CMc), as well as B103–2007 SP, Standard Form of Agreement Between Owner and Architect for a Large or Complex Sustainable Project.

The New York City College of Technology broke ground on a 365,000-sf academic complex in October of 2013. The eight-story facility will provide laboratories, classrooms, faculty offices, clinics, and support spaces to enhance the College’s health and science curriculum in radiology, dental hygiene, nursing, biological sciences, biomedical research, chemistry, restorative dentistry, and vision care.

The University of Nottingham began construction in October of 2013 on the $32 million Centre for Sustainable Chemistry in the United Kingdom. Designed by Fairhursts Design Group and created in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline, the 48,000-sf carbon-neutral building will provide research labs, a teaching lab, and instrumentation suites. The facility will be located in the University's Innovation Park and will accommodate 100 investigators.

Vassar College is constructing the $125 million Integrated Science Center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The project includes a new 80,000-sf teaching and research building designed by Ennead Architects that will bridge a ravine. Three existing facilities will also be renovated. Supporting programs in earth science, biology, chemistry, and physics, the Integrated Science Center will feature the collaborative Earth and Environment Lab housing two faculty research labs, a shared teaching lab, a cleanroom, a coldroom, and a student-faculty joint use lab.

Samsung Research America broke ground in October of 2013 on its new research and development campus in Mountain View, Calif. The 385,000-sf project includes two six-story office buildings and will be constructed to attain a minimum of LEED Gold sustainable design certification. Occupancy is expected in December of 2014. Samsung Research America is a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.