Higher Education

Wake Technical Community College opened the $47 million Lilly Science and Technology Center in Morrisville in March of 2022. Designed by O'Brien Atkins Associates, the 66,000-sf facility features smart learning environments for programs in biotechnology and business analytics. Housing a biochemistry lab for training in raw materials testing and in-process sampling, the three-story building also provides a microbiology lab where students can learn best practices for gene therapy, genetics, cell culture, DNA manipulation, and industrial microbiology.

Tarleton State University broke ground in March of 2022 on the $66 million Interprofessional Education Building in Crowley, Texas. Designed by Perkins&Will, the 102,000-sf facility will provide next-generation learning environments for the College of Health Sciences and Human Services and the College of Education. Featuring high-fidelity simulation and clinical skills suites, the project will provide teaching and research labs, collaboration spaces, classrooms, and a large multipurpose hall.

Kent State University broke ground in March of 2022 on a $72.3 million facility for the Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship. Designed by Perkins& Will and The Collaborative to act as a new campus gateway, the four-story, 158,400-sf building will feature active learning classrooms, conference rooms, a business theater, a boardroom, a global forum, and a behavioral research hub.

Gonzaga University opened the $50 million Bollier Family Center for Integrated Science and Engineering in spring of 2022 in Spokane, Wash. Designed by SRG Partnership and Integrus with Research Facilities Design (RFD) as laboratory design consultant, the 82,679-sf building is physically connected to the PACCAR Center for Applied Science and Hughes Hall to create a campus nexus for STEM education.

The University of Wyoming opened the $100 million Science Initiative Building in March of 2022 in Laramie. Designed by GSG Architecture and Perkins&Will, the 153,000-sf structure will enhance interaction among multiple disciplines by collocating researchers into a single complex with shared core facilities. Located on the first floor to mitigate vibration, the Center for Advanced Scientific Instrumentation provides electron microscopes, an X-ray refractometer, a mass spectrometer, and micro CT scanners.

Duquesne University broke ground in March of 2022 on the $60 million College of Osteopathic Medicine in Pittsburgh. Designed by The S/L/A/M Collaborative and WTW Architects, the six-story, 80,000-sf facility will offer experiential and immersive learning environments as well as areas for formal classroom instruction. A state-of-the-art simulation hospital will leverage advanced visualization technologies to train the next generation of physicians.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas broke ground on the $75 million Advanced Engineering Building in February of 2022. Located on the Maryland campus, the three-story, 52,000-sf facility will enable the Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering to increase total enrollment from 3,000 to 5,000 students. The ground floor will provide undergraduates with numerous opportunities for experiential learning with a maker space, interactive classrooms, and a flexible auditorium and event venue.

Arizona State University completed construction in early 2022 on the $192 million Rob and Melani Walton Center for Planetary Health in Tempe. Designed by Architekton and Grimshaw, the 281,000-gsf facility provides leading-edge research labs for biological and life sciences, engineering, and sustainability, as well as offering dry labs for programs in computing, cybersecurity, and robotics.

Vermeulens has released its market outlook report for the fourth quarter of 2021. Key points include:

Build the first 14 floors now, then add a 16-story tower a decade or so into the future. That was Northwestern University’s unconventional approach to the construction of the Louis A. Simpson and Kimberly K. Querrey Biomedical Research Center on the Chicago campus of its Feinberg School of Medicine. It wasn’t the only out-of-the-box decision that enabled the university to move forward with its vision of creating a 1.2 million-sf, next-generation research hub about 10 miles south of its main campus in Evanston. Similarly inventive is the ownership arrangement of the first half, which became the largest academic biomedical research building in the U.S. when it opened in 2019. One of the medical school’s three major hospital affiliates, Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, owns four of the nine lab floors (amounting to roughly 160,000 sf) and has easements to four-ninths of all the common space in the 625,000-sf structure.

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University opened the $90 million Harold L. Martin Sr. Engineering Research & Innovation Complex in Greensboro in February of 2022. Designed by EYP Architecture & Engineering, the four-story, 130,000-gsf building accommodates programs in cybersecurity and network systems, energy and sustainability, and health applications.

Marist College is planning a $60 million expansion and renovation of Dyson Center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Housing the School of Management and the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the existing structure will expand from 54,000 to 110,000 sf to create a new campus hub for intellectual exchange and student collaboration. Designed by Ann Beha Architects, the completed facility will feature a soaring atrium, a 150-seat lecture hall, state-of-the-art classrooms, and specialized research labs for cognitive, developmental, and social psychology.

The University of California, Davis broke ground in February of 2022 on Aggie Square in Sacramento. Designed by ZGF Architects, the first phase of the mixed-use district is being developed in association with Wexford Science + Technology and GMH Capital Partners, who will finance, construct, and own the facilities. At the heart of Aggie Square, a vibrant central plaza will offer a variety of settings for informal interaction, mobile work, and outdoor gatherings.

While creating generic/flexible lab spaces that can be adapted to a variety of different research needs continues to be the preferred approach—especially in higher education buildings—there is also a growing need for highly specialized lab and support facilities designed for very specific types of research. As a result, facility designers are increasingly tasked with balancing the demand for both open generic/flexible labs and specialized lab spaces in a single building with the added challenge of improving energy efficiency, sustainability, and operating costs.

Virginia Tech broke ground in February of 2022 on the $85 million Hitt Hall in Blacksburg. Providing an expanded physical presence for the Myers-Lawson School of Construction, the 100,000-gsf facility will enhance interdisciplinary synergies between the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and the College of Engineering.