Higher Education

Montclair State University officially opened University Hall in Montclair, N.J., on March 27, 2006. The 270,000-sf building is one of New Jersey's most technologically advanced classroom facilities and the new home of the University's nationally recognized College of Education & Human Services. It houses 52 state-of-the-art, technologically advanced classrooms; lecture halls; student study rooms and lounges; conference rooms; and offices for faculty and staff.

Jackson State University broke ground on March 31, 2006 on a $20-million, 90,000-sf engineering building. Slated for completion by fall of 2007, the building will house an auditorium, two-tiered classrooms, faculty and student lounges, and a wireless communication infrastructure. The building will consolidate engineering education and administration on the university's Jackson, Miss., campus.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) dedicated the Richard C. and Annette N. Shelby Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building on March 31, 2006. The $76-million, 323,000-sf facility is comprised of 12 stories of research and office space. Three floors remain unfinished to allow for additional phases of construction tentatively slated for completion by fall of 2007. The building increases UAB's research space by 25 percent.  

The University of Iowa dedicated the $43-million Carver Biomedical Research Building in Iowa City on March 31, 2006. The facility will accommodate the study of molecules, proteins and biological structures on five floors of research laboratory space including a state-of-the-art NMR facility. The building is the newest addition to the Carver College of Medicine and is connected to the Medical Education and Research Facility.

Columbia University has completed the preliminary design phase of its $45-million Earth Observatory on the Lamont-Doherty campus in Palisades, N.Y. The two-story, 63,000-sf facility will consolidate the geochemistry department of the university's Earth Institute and will house over 30 state-of-the-art sustainably designed laboratories and more than 70 offices. Designed by Payette Associates, the facility is expected to break ground in November 2006 and reach initial occupancy in November 2007. 

The University of Saskatchewan is initiating projects totaling between $460-million and $490-million on its Saskatoon campus. The $250-million Academic Health Sciences Center is currently in the design phase with construction to begin in 2007 and reach completion in 2010-2012. The seven-story facility will house an animal research facility and a BSL-2 laboratory. A second building will house a new school of public health, a library, meeting rooms, and a 500-seat lecture theater.

The University of Toronto Scarborough broke ground on a new interdisciplinary science building on March 28, 2006. Designed by Moriyama & Teshima Architects in association with Watson MacEwen Architects, the facility will provide space for dynamic collaboration in research and teaching in the environmental, physical, and life sciences.

The University of New Mexico will break ground in 2006 on the 144,000-sf Centennial Engineering Center in Albuquerque. Entailing the demolition of Wagner Hall and Tapy Hall, the facility will house Civil, Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, the Computer Science Department, Engineering Student Programs, Minority Student Programs, and the School of Engineering administrative offices.

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University will dedicate its new 74,100-sf science building on April 7, 2006. The $21.8-million facility will house the chemistry and psychology departments and is part of the College of Arts & Sciences.

Groundbreaking on the new 85,000-sf Arizona Biomedical Collaborative building (ABC) on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus was celebrated on March 16, 2006. Housing Arizona State University's Department of Biomedical Informatics and the University of Arizona's College of Medicine wet lab space for diabetes, cancer, and neurological research, the facility is the first public building dedicated to research in Phoenix.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has initiated the second phase of construction on its 331,000-sf Genetic Medicine Building (GMB). The $120-million multidisciplinary research facility, comprised of seven stories plus a mechanical penthouse, has a deep footprint of approximately 40,000 sf of contiguous space. The GMB is designed around a central atrium that brings light into the entire building, even into the enclosed labs and offices through punched-out windows and open doors.

Temple University's School of Pharmacy opened a 700-sf drug manufacturing facility in February of 2006. Located on the fourth floor of the pharmacy school building in north Philadelphia, the facility adheres to FDA cGMP requirements and features a sophisticated air-filtration system, a non-porous ceiling, and seamless flooring. The plant will manufacture capsules and tablets used in phase-I and phase-II clinical trials in batches of between 1,000 and 100,000 units.

Nova Southeastern University (NSU) will construct a 208,000-sf research facility on its Fort Lauderdale, Fla., campus. Slated for completion in late 2008 to mid-2009, the six-story building will house wet labs for use by the programs of dentistry, osteopathic medicine, oceanography, and pharmacology. The building, which will feature an enhanced communications infrastructure connected to other Florida universities, will accommodate NSU's information technology department. The U.S.

Stanford University School of Medicine has selected NBBJ of San Francisco to design the new $128-million Learning and Knowledge Center in Palo Alto, Calif. The project will be constructed on the site of the existing Fairchild Auditorium and will include renovations to the Lane and Always buildings. The 120,000-sf center will break ground in 2007 with completion expected in 2009.

The University of Washington is nearing completion on construction of the new William H. Foege Building in Seattle. Providing a central home for the Department of Bioengineering, the 260,000-sf, $150-million facility broke ground in 2001.