Higher Education

Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences will begin construction in summer of 2015 on the $45 million Medical Academic and Simulation Center in Tulsa. The four-story, 223,000-sf facility will include classrooms, clinical skills labs, a lecture hall, conference space, and a five-story parking garage. A hospital simulation center will include an emergency room, a surgical suite, a birthing room, an ambulance bay, and an intensive care unit to support advanced medical training.

Delaware State University is building the $60 million Optical Science Center for Applied Research (OSCAR) in Dover. Ground was broken on the 53,000-sf facility in October of 2012 and construction began in July of 2013. Designed by Richärd+Bauer, OSCAR will house the University’s optics program and is being built as two structures in separate construction phases.

SUNY Polytechnic Institute is partnering with the New York Power Authority to create the Advanced Grid Innovation Laboratory for Energy (AGILe) in Albany, N.Y. Supporting collaborative energy infrastructure research, the facility will enable the simulation, development, testing, and deployment of advanced electrical grid technologies.

The 12-story McGlothlin Medical Education Center at Virginia Commonwealth University houses classrooms, office space, and simulation facilities that shift the focus away from lecture-based learning and towards experiential learning. The 25,000-sf Center for Human Simulation and Patient Safety—a state-of-the-art facility serving medical students, residents, and continuing medical education students in both the Simulation and Standardized Patient programs—occupies two floors.

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte dedicated the Siemens Energy Large Manufacturing Solutions Laboratory in March of 2015. Accommodating research on precision dimensional measurement of large-scale energy components, the facility features a 30-ton Leitz PMM-F machine housed in a temperature-controlled room. The lab is located in the Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC) and was supported by $2 million in funding from Siemens Energy and Hexagon Metrology.

Missouri State University is building the $19.5 million O’Reilly Clinical Health Sciences Center in Springfield. The 50,000-sf facility will provide a multidisciplinary health clinic, medical skills training labs, simulation suites, classrooms, offices, and space for nursing and occupational therapy programs. Construction began on the project in July of 2014 and completion is expected in fall of 2015.

Stony Brook University is planning to build the $62 million Innovation and Discovery Center in the 246-acre Research and Development Park in Stony Brook, N.Y. Designed by Mitchell Giurgola Architects, the 200,000-gsf business incubator will provide laboratory and office space for innovative biotechnology and high-tech companies. Construction will begin in spring of 2016 and completion is expected within three years.

The University of Warwick began construction in March of 2015 on the $220 million National Automotive Innovation Campus in Coventry in the United Kingdom. Created in partnership with Jaguar Land Rover, Warwick Manufacturing Group, and Tata Motors, the 355,000-sf R&D facility will provide advanced engineering labs, design studios, virtual reality suites, demonstration areas, and instructional space. The general contractor for the project is Balfour Beatty. Occupancy is expected in early 2017. 

The University of Canberra will begin construction in early 2016 on a $100 million public hospital. The 140-bed facility will provide sub-acute services including rehabilitation, mental health, and dementia care. The project will include space for the University's transdisciplinary Health Research Institute.

Ground was broken in March of 2015 on the $47 million Shriners Hospital for Children Medical Center in Lexington. The five-story, 110,000-sf facility is sited on the campus of the University of Kentucky and UK HealthCare will lease the top two floors to provide clinical space for ophthalmology. Shriners’ pediatric orthopaedic services will be housed in 60,000 sf on the first three floors. The medical center will provide 20 patient exam rooms, a motion analysis lab, two surgical suites, and rehabilitation facilities.

With its new Johnson Center for Science and Community Life, North Park University has embarked on a unique effort to combine STEM education with student life. The building contains all science classrooms—biology, chemistry, physics, math, engineering, psychology, and general science—plus all aspects of student engagement.

Brigham Young University-Idaho began constructing the 108,000-sf Science and Technology Building in Rexburg in March of 2015. Designed by CRSA of Salt Lake City, the three-story facility will provide classrooms, labs, and faculty offices for the Departments of Animal and Food Science, Applied Plant Science, Computer Information Technology, and Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. The general contractor for the project is Headwaters Construction. Completion is expected in fall of 2016.

The University of Illinois is planning to construct the Carle-Illinois College of Medicine in Urbana. Developed in partnership with Carle Health System, the project will be the nation’s first engineering-based medical school and will support a progressive pedagogy designed to foster innovation. This ground-breaking approach will integrate the University’s assets in engineering, technology, and supercomputing with Carle’s comprehensive health care resources. 

The University of Arkansas will begin construction in mid-2015 on the $16.3 million Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Sciences in Fayetteville. Designed by WER Architects, the 60,000-sf facility will provide multidisciplinary laboratories and greenhouses for plant and animal science as well as water quality research. The project will include a 300-seat auditorium and administrative offices for the UA Agricultural Experiment Station. The general contractor for the facility is Nabholz Construction.

George Washington University opened the $275 million Science and Engineering Hall in March of 2015 in Washington, D.C. Located on the Foggy Bottom campus, the 500,000-sf interdisciplinary facility provides classrooms, integrated core facilities, and collaborative research spaces. Designed by Ballinger, the facility houses laboratories for biomedical engineering, nanofabrication, molecular genetics, imaging, and environmental engineering. The three-story high bay lab will support structural testing for large-scale construction components.