Johns Hopkins University is planning to construct a 476,572-sf facility for the Data Science and AI Institute (DSAI) on the Homewood Campus in Baltimore. Designed by ZGF, this global hub for research and discovery will bring together experts in artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science and translation, applied mathematics, and computer science and engineering.
The past few decades have brought myriad technological changes to our daily lives, and experts predict the pace of change will only increase—especially in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Much of the talk surrounding AI focuses on automating repetitive processes and analyzing data, which require additional computational power but not necessarily structural modifications. But emerging technologies, including AI and robotics, may require universities and companies to rethink their approach to designing and planning buildings and labs.
The University of Kansas is planning to begin construction in summer of 2026 on the Makers' KUbe in the heart of its Lawrence campus. The School of Architecture & Design will occupy the $120 million facility and collaborated on its design with Bjarke Ingels Group, BNIM, and StructureCraft. Showcasing timber tectonics, traditional joinery, and sustainable materials, the 50,000-sf facility will act as a living curriculum with exposed structural and MEP systems.
Siemens Mobility will begin construction in early 2025 on a £100 million innovation center for rail infrastructure in Chippenham, U.K. Designed by Arup and AHR, the digitally enabled complex will provide world-class R&D labs for the creation of novel transit solutions. Integrated research, testing, and factory environments will accelerate the production of the next generation of signaling and control systems for the United Kingdom.
The University of Sheffield's Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre finished construction in November of 2024 on an open-access innovation facility for aerospace R&D in the United Kingdom. Expanding the capabilities of the adjacent Factory 2050, the 29,700-sf structure will initially house the Composites at Speed and Scale (COMPASS) initiative. An expansive factory environment will enable academic, government, and industry partners to work side-by-side, complemented by individual workshops and ancillary spaces.
Case Western Reserve University celebrated the official groundbreaking of the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) in October of 2024 in Cleveland. Designed by HGA in partnership with local firm DVA Architecture, the 189,000-sf facility will collocate more than 60 principal investigators from the School of Medicine, the School of Engineering, and the College of Arts and Sciences. The $300 million structure will offer both wet and dry labs, a shared core lab, and advanced technology platforms.
The vision of biomedical research as a collective effort is resoundingly clear in the $237.5 million Pelotonia Research Center, the first building to be completed in the 350-plus-acre Carmenton district on the campus of The Ohio State University (Ohio State) in Columbus. Opened in May 2023, the center integrates almost 100,000 sf of wet labs, 25,000 sf of computational labs, and 20,000 sf of core labs in a single facility designed to host interdisciplinary collaborations and public-private initiatives that focus on solving some of the most critical health challenges. With life science as the backbone of the research endeavor, current projects range from modeling cancer progressions to 3D printing of patient-specific anatomic models.
Rice University’s Ralph S. O’Connor Building for Engineering and Science, which opened in September 2023, is a 250,000-gsf center for advanced materials sciences designed to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration by bringing together researchers in the fields of chemistry, biomolecular engineering, physics, and nanoengineering who had previously been scattered across 13 different buildings around the campus.
Texas A&M University broke ground in November of 2024 on the Space Institute in Houston. Designed by Energy Architecture, the $200 million building is strategically sited on 32 acres at NASA's Exploration Park, just outside the access-controlled area of the Johnson Space Center. The 400,000-sf structure will provide sophisticated environments for aeronautics research and the development of advanced robotics.
Colorado State University broke ground in October of 2024 on ATLAS, the Advanced Technology Lasers for Applications and Science facility in Fort Collins. Created in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fusion Energy Sciences program, the development is made possible by a $150 million public-private partnership with Marvel Fusion. A trio of ultra-high-power lasers that can be used separately or in combination will drive innovative discoveries in clean energy, medicine, and fundamental research.
Virginia Commonwealth University needed new space for math and science classes. When prototypes and stakeholder feedback indicated the student experience was top priority, they changed their planned two-stage facility to a single STEM building focused on making it easier for students to learn in the ways that suit them best, with spaces designed to break down barriers between faculty and students.
Lehigh University's new Health, Science & Technology Building is designed to break down silos between academic departments, to enhance faculty research and better prepare students for tomorrow’s transdisciplinary world. Three different lab modules—with no walls between them—facilitate easy transitions from one use to another, as well as expansion and contraction as needs change. And collaboration spaces are strategically located between labs throughout the building.
Prior to the development of a master plan for expansion of research facilities at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), campus facility planners conducted a 15-month strategic visioning initiative that resulted in the creation of a digital space planning and visualization tool called PREVIEW.
Ground was broken in October of 2024 on WORKBENCH, a sustainable office building in Austin, Texas. Designed by Dick Clark + Associates (DC+A) and built by Swinerton, the 50,000-sf facility will serve as a showcase for the utilization of mass timber and cross-laminated timber in the built environment. It is estimated that the mixed-use development will store approximately 500 metric tons of carbon dioxide.
Yale University broke ground in late September of 2024 on the Physical Sciences and Engineering Building (PSEB) in New Haven, Conn. Offering 50 laboratories, the 253,000-sf structure was designed by TenBerke and Ballinger to equip future generations of quantum scientists, engineers, and physicists. Research Facilities Design is the laboratory planning consultant for the six-level project, which will feature sophisticated instrumentation and fabrication environments that drive university-wide collaborations.
