Higher Education

Colorado School of Mines began construction in January of 2022 on the $18.6 million Labriola Innovation Hub in Golden, Colo. Designed by OZ Architecture, the 37,000-sf building will provide collaborative environments for hands-on learning and discovery. Featuring maker spaces, design classrooms, and team project spaces, the interdisciplinary structure will enable faculty, students, alumni, and industry partners to develop new solutions for critical societal problems.

Boston College opened the $150 million Integrated Science Building in January of 2022 in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Designed by Payette, the 157,000-sf facility houses the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society (ISSS) where diverse research teams will create solutions for global challenges relating to public health, energy, and the environment. Leveraging interdisciplinary synergies to foster innovation and discovery, the five-story structure also accommodates the Computer Science Department and the Human-Centered Engineering Department.

The University of Hawaii at Manoa broke ground in January of 2022 on the $70 million Residences for Innovative Student Entrepreneurs (RISE) in Honolulu. Leveraging the power of interdisciplinary collaboration to promote new venture success, the six-story, 117,000-sf building will feature a 7,263-sf multipurpose venue offering prototyping labs, coworking spaces, meeting areas, and a classroom. On the upper floors, a 219-unit dormitory will provide 374 beds for undergraduate and graduate students from across the UH System. 

The University of Glasgow opened the £118 million Advanced Research Centre in January of 2022 in the United Kingdom. Designed by HOK, the 172,000-sf facility accommodates leading-edge research programs at the intersection of engineering, life sciences, chemistry, physics, social sciences, and the arts.

Caltech is planning to construct the Quantum Science and Technology Center in Pasadena, Calif. Accommodating interdisciplinary research programs in quantum sensing, quantum information, and gravitational-wave detection, the six-story, 47,000-gsf facility will offer four floors of airy interaction spaces and offices atop two levels of underground laboratories. Extensive interior and exterior glazing will admit natural light into the highly transparent structure, promoting visual connectivity and interaction among investigators and between faculty and students.

Harvard University completed a renovation of the historic Houghton Library in January of 2022. Acting as the school's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, the updated facility features a redesigned entrance forecourt with a broad, welcoming staircase. Designed by Ann Beha Architects, the project included modifications to the library's oval lobby to create a new display setting for the library’s special collections, with space for modern exhibition cases around the perimeter.

The Hans Rosling Center for Population Health at the University of Washington (UW) is designed to realize the vision of the university’s Population Health Initiative, a 25-year mission to address the most persistent and emerging global challenges affecting human health, environmental resilience, and social and economic equity. The nine-story Center provides space for collaborative group work, active learning, offices, and training for the UW Department of Global Health, the Institute for Health Metrics & Evaluation (IHME), the UW School of Public Health, and the offices of the Population Health Initiative. The project was made possible by a $210 million gift from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and $15 million in earmarked funding from Washington State.

Rice University is planning to construct the $25 million Susan and Fayez Sarofim Hall in Houston. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the 50,000-sf facility will provide the Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts with studios, labs, shops, collaboration spaces, exhibition areas, and faculty offices. Promoting experimentation and collaboration between disciplines, the public-facing project will be bisected by a glass-lined pedestrian street that will act as a new campus entrance.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham is constructing the $76 million Science and Engineering Complex to create a collaborative nexus for teaching and research in the basic sciences. Designed by Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood, the four-story, 138,842-sf facility will house interactive classrooms, team learning rooms, faculty and staff offices, and project-based research labs that allow for student shadowing. Instrumentation suites will be located on an isolation floor to mitigate vibration.

Imperial College London opened the £70 million Sir Michael Uren Biomedical Engineering Research Hub in London in December of 2021. Designed by Allies and Morrison, the 13-story, 215,000-sf building provides flexible laboratories, a 160-seat auditorium, and a variety of social spaces to foster interaction and informal knowledge exchange.

2021 was another unprecedented year, with rapidly changing capital project priorities. New directions in science funding, the current and future realities of in-person and hybrid learning and work environments, and what it now takes to recruit and retain workers, students, and faculty were items of highest interest. Here is the top ten list of Tradeline articles that your peers found particularly helpful in navigating 2021 and preparing for 2022 and beyond.

Texas Tech University broke ground in December of 2021 on the $100 million Academic Sciences Building in Lubbock. Located in the STEM epicenter of campus, the 125,000-sf facility will accommodate the departments of Biological Sciences, Psychological Sciences, Geosciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Physics and Astronomy. Designed by EYP Architecture and Engineering and BGK Architects, the three-story structure will enhance the student experience with active learning classrooms, teaching labs, computer labs, and collaboration spaces.

Washington University School of Medicine will break ground in spring of 2022 on a $150 million vertical expansion of the Steven & Susan Lipstein BJC Institute of Health in St. Louis. Designed by Lawrence Group to promote collaboration and discovery, the six-story, 160,000-sf addition will provide 103,000 sf of biomedical research space and a 7,900-sf BSL-3 laboratory for the study of infectious diseases such as SARS-CoV-2 and tuberculosis.

George Brown College broke ground in December of 2021 on a CAD$160 million mass timber building in Toronto. Designed by Moriyama & Teshima Architects and Acton Ostry Architects, Limberlost Place will house the School of Architectural Studies, the School of Computer Technology, and the Brookfield Sustainability Institute. The 10-story, 204,000-sf facility will also accommodate research labs, flexible classrooms, lecture halls, computer labs, meeting rooms, a childcare facility, and a three-story atrium.

Pennsylvania State University opened the $98.5 million Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Building in December of 2021 in University Park. Designed by HOK, the 105,000-sf facility provides the College of Agricultural Sciences with a state-of-the-art vivarium, a general-purpose classroom capable of accommodating 100 students, a 48-seat seminar room, and faculty offices.