Higher Education

The University of Kansas Medical Center celebrated the opening of the 205,000-sf Life Sciences Innovation Center in Kansas City in December of 2006. The five-story, $57.2-million facility was designed by Cannon Design of Grand Island, N.Y., and GLPM Architects of Lawrence, Kansas, to accommodate collaborative research in neuroscience, reproductive biology, and proteomics. The facility houses laboratories, conference rooms, and shared equipment areas to encourage team research.

Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., is planning a multi-building expansion of its School of Medicine comprising up to five buildings over the next fifteen years. The first $86-million facility, the Learning and Knowledge Center, is being designed by NBBJ of San Francisco. The 120,000-sf facility will connect the medical school with Stanford’s main campus and will house a biomedical library, classrooms, and hospital simulation rooms. Groundbreaking is slated for 2008.

The University of Memphis is planning several projects to expand its Tennessee campus. The $46-million University Center will include dining, a small theater, and a 24-hour zone including an all-night computer lab. A $20-million dormitory will begin construction in 2008. Both projects are slated for completion in 2009. The University is also planning to build a $75-million music building and a $23 million science building.

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., has selected URS Corporation to design the renovation of Bartlett Hall and its expansion into the attached Cadet Library. URS will provide comprehensive programming, planning, architectural design, and engineering services for the improvements to the historic 1913 building. Together the adjacent and connected buildings total over 321,260 gsf and will house teaching and research laboratories for chemistry, biology, physics, photonics, classrooms, offices, and support space.

The Medical College of Georgia dedicated its $34-million, 189,000-sf Health Sciences Building in Augusta, Ga., on January 19, 2007. The facility houses laboratories, classrooms, and clinics for the Schools of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences. An occupational therapy community integration suite is located on the second floor. The building features a two-story education wing of school-shared classroom space and five stories of specialized classrooms, labs, and office space. It has three large, auditorium-style classrooms equipped with distance-learning technology.

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte has selected the architectural team of Gantt Huberman Associates of Charlotte and KieranTimberlake Associates of Philadelphia to design the 150,000-sf Center City Building in uptown Charlotte. Housing offices and classrooms for graduate and professional programs, the facility will be funded by $45.8 million from the state of North Carolina. Completion is slated for 2010.

The University of Florida broke ground in January of 2007 on the 500,000-sf Shands Cancer Hospital in Gainesville, Fla. The $388-million facility will accommodate diagnostic and therapeutic oncology services in an nine-story tower with 192 private inpatient beds. The hospital will include an operating suite, a Critical Care Center for trauma and emergency services, and an 800-car parking garage.

The College of the Holy Cross is building a $60 million integrated science complex in Worcester, Mass. The four-story, 44,000-sf building will connect to the existing science and social science facilities and will house lecture, laboratory, and chemistry research space. Ground was broken on the project in April of 2007 with completion expected by January of 2009.

The Edmonton Clinic, a partnership of the University of Edmonton and Alberta's Capital Health, will begin construction in 2007 on a $589-million, 1.6 million-sf facility in Edmonton. Integrating healthcare, research, and learning, the project will include over 61 groups from both the private and public sector including pharmaceutical science and rehabilitation medicine.

The University of Saskatchewan has begun construction on the $110 million International Vaccine Center (InterVac) in Saskatoon. Designed by Smith Carter of Winnipeg, the 165,000-sf facility will include large animal testing facilities and BSL-3 containment laboratories for infectious disease and vaccine research.

The University of Alaska is constructing the $87-million Integrated Science Center on its Anchorage campus. Designed by a joint venture of ZGF of Seattle and ECI/Hyer of Anchorage, the 128,000-sf facility will house classrooms, administration, a vivarium, a planetarium, and 24 interdisciplinary laboratories. The CM-at-risk for the project is Cornerstone Construction Company. Site work began on the center in September of 2006 with completion expected by fall of 2009.

UC Davis opened its new Education Building and the F. William Blaisdell Medical Library on the school's Sacramento campus on December 11, 2006. The $46-million, four-story structure replaces classrooms and offices in Davis and unites the medical school's educational facilities on a single campus.

A consortium led by Rutgers University has received $50 million in New Jersey state funding to construct a stem cell research facility in Camden. Partnering with the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Camden, the Coriell Institute for Medical Research, and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the laboratory will be the center of a statewide network of interconnected biomedical research and collection centers.

Loma Linda University began construction in late 2006 on the new Centennial Complex in Loma Linda, Calif. The facility is the first academic facility to be built at the University in over 20 years and is being built by contractor McCarthy. The 148,861-sf project is comprised of a $65-million facility providing leading-edge classrooms, labs, exam rooms, faculty offices, and an amphitheater center with a 250-seat theater and a 350-seat theater for classes, seminars, and programs.

Texas A&M Health Science Center is planning a new Health Science Center on 200 acres in Bryan, Texas. The first phase of the master plan for the site may include three buildings at a cost of $128 million. Fifty of the acres at the Bryan campus will accommodate public/private partnerships. Slated for completion by year-end 2010, the design includes an education building with a possible nursing or pharmacy component and a simulation center allowing medical students to practice treatment on dummies.