Higher Education

New technologies and approaches are making the renovation of academic science facilities a more financially attractive option for institutions facing limited budgets, constrained real estate, and aging buildings with prominent historic legacies. Recent data suggests that, depending on the type of technology applied, institutions can achieve significant savings by renovating existing buildings to meet the needs of modern science as opposed to demolishing and building new.

The six-story Academic Health Sciences Centre embraces multidisciplinary, highly technical research, while supporting Saskatchewan's commitment to provide exceptional healthcare for the people of the province. Flad Architects collaborated with Henry Downing Howlett Architects to design the new D Wing, which houses research labs, animal facilities, and academic offices for biomedical and pharmaceutical researchers from the various Health Sciences Colleges and units at the University of Saskatchewan.

The University of Nebraska is planning to construct the $19 million Health Science Education Building in Kearney. Construction will begin in January of 2014 with completion slated for June of 2015. The 30,000-sf project will provide education and training facilities including classrooms, anatomy and physiology labs, a clinical simulation lab, and a distance learning hub. The Health Science Education Building will house programs for the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing and the University of Nebraska Kearney School of Allied Health Professionals.

Research universities and liberal arts colleges are taking a closer look at how they apportion lab space to provide the best research environment for faculty and an optimal learning atmosphere for students, while adhering to safety protocols, reducing costs, and adding institutional flexibility.

The University of California, Davis opened a $58.5 million research facility for the School of Veterinary Medicine in March of 2013. Featuring collaborative open laboratories, the four-story, 76,000-asf Research Facility 3B will support 40 teams investigating animal, human, and environmental health issues including zoonotic diseases, autism, nutrition, reproduction, respiratory disease, neurobiology, food safety, toxicology, and aquatic toxicology.

University of Missouri Health Care opened a $190 million patient tower in March of 2013. Located at University Hospital in Columbia, the eight-story, 310,500-sf facility provides 90 private patient rooms, 35 pre-procedure rooms, 18 post-procedure rooms, six surgical suites, and an intensive care unit. The tower also houses the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center. Construction began on the facility in September of 2010. The project was designed by HOK.

The University of Washington has completed a new seven-story research facility in Seattle. UW Medicine South Lake Union 3.1 is currently undergoing commissioning and will be occupied by summer of 2013. Designed by Perkins+Will to facilitate collaboration, the building will house lab groups involved in kidney research, vision sciences, immunology, rheumatology, and infectious disease investigations. The total project cost was $164 million with a construction cost of $113 million. The 330,000-gsf project provides 180,000 gsf of research and support space.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison will dedicate the $75.7 million Wisconsin Energy Institute (WEI) on April 5, 2013. Designed by HOK with Potter Lawson as architect of record, the 100,000-sf facility provides wet and dry labs, offices, imaging suites, high bay space, and conference rooms for collaborative research on advanced fuels, renewable energy, and energy storage systems. Ground was broken on the multidisciplinary building in November of 2010 and the project was built by M.A. Mortensen.

Lawrence Technological University is planning to build the $55 million A. Alfred Taubman Engineering, Life Sciences, and Architecture Complex in Southfield, Mich. Designed by Morphosis with Albert Kahn as architect of record, the 125,000-sf TESLA facility will be built in two phases. The first 30,000-sf phase will provide multidisciplinary collaboration space and laboratories for science, biomedical engineering, and robotics. The second phase includes a three-story building housing two floors of classrooms and labs.

Russell Hall, a 1974 two-story, masonry-construction facility, underwent an extensive first-floor renovation with a complete overhaul of its mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems to accommodate the medical education classrooms of a new Health Sciences Campus. In its new role, the former Navy Supply Corps School classroom building serves two primary occupants: the University of Georgia's College of Public Health and the Georgia Regents University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership.

The Performance Guaranteed Facility (PGF) model is a relatively new type of public/private partnership that allows the occupants to own a building the moment construction begins, while private-sector partners commit to its design, construction, financing, and ongoing maintenance, including future rehabilitation. The model goes by different names, but the concept involves an interactive partnership designed to benefit all parties for the long term.

The University of Wyoming broke ground in March of 2013 on the Michael B. Enzi STEM Facility in Laramie. The 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, and an atmospheric sciences lab to support collaborative research with the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center in Cheyenne. Completion is expected in spring of 2015.

Saint Vincent College opened the $39 million Sis and Herman Dupré Science Pavilion in March of 2013 in Latrobe, Pa. Housing the Herbert W. Boyer School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computing, the 102,000-gsf facility provides classrooms, lecture halls, instrumentation suites, offices, conference rooms, and labs for chemistry, biology, physics, and life sciences. The center was designed by Maclachlan, Cornelius & Filoni with RFD (Research Facilities Design) as laboratory design consultant.

Louisiana State University opened the John Franks Equine and Large Animal Isolation Unit in Baton Rouge in March of 2013. Located at the school's Veterinary Teaching Hospital, the 11,000-sf facility provides eight stalls with separate patient care areas and advanced audiovisual monitoring systems. The building also includes exam rooms, procedural space, a diagnostic imaging suite, foaling stalls, and stalls with sling and hoist capabilities. The facility features a robust ventilation system for the containment of airborne diseases.

The University of Edinburgh began building the National Avian Research Facility in early 2013. The $22 million research laboratory represents a partnership of the Roslin Institute of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and The Pirbright Institute. The facility will include specific-pathogen-free (SPF) areas for research with genetically modified poultry. Completion is expected in late 2014.