Higher Education

The $150-million New Songdo National Aquarium will be constructed at the edge of New Songdo City's Central Park in South Korea. Described as the most modern aquarium in the world, the 200,000-sf facility will be designed with state-of-the-art "aquatecture" by Boston-based Chermayeff, Sollogub & Poole (CSP). Project manager International Design for the Environment Associates (IDEA), also of Boston, is a firm of international aquarium experts associated with CSP.

The Florida School for the Deaf and Blind has selected the Stellar Group to design, build, and provide construction management for the expansion and renovation of Gibbs Hall in St. Augustine, Fla. The $4.8-million project includes the construction of a covered walkway. The renovated 28,000-sf facility will accommodate career-specific training for blind students, classrooms, and teacher offices. Construction will commence on May 28, 2005, with project completion slated for November of the same year.

Camden County College is planning an $83 million project to rebuild more than fifty percent of its Blackwood, N.J., campus over the next six years. The Madison Hall Connector Building will be the first facility to be constructed, which will house the college's Center for Civic Leadership and Responsibility. Other new construction projects include a science facility, a student services building, an interactive classroom and atrium for public forums, and upgraded athletic fields.

RETS Tech Center, a private technical school, is planning a 13,000-sf expansion to accommodate a registered nurse training program. The $1.7 million project will allow enrollment to increase thirty percent for a projected total of 700 students. Alleviating crowding in the school's existing 43,500-sf of classroom and laboratory facilities, the facility is expected to be ready for occupancy in September 2005. Between 75 and 100 registered nurses will graduate from the program annually.

Miles College, a historically black college founded in 1905, has completed three projects totaling $17 million on its Fairfield, Ala., campus: a 55,000-sf, 250-bed dormitory for men; a 45,000-sf classroom, seminar, and auditorium facility; and the renovated Brown Hall, which houses executive suites and conference rooms featuring state-of-the-art technology. The projects were designed by Exford LLC of Birmingham and built by Doster Construction Co.

The University of California, Berkeley has selected HNTB Architecture for the planned renovation of its historic 82-year-old Memorial Stadium. The 73,347-seat stadium, which sits on the Hayward fault line, requires structural reinforcements to protect against the threat of an earthquake. The facility will also be expanded so that other intercollegiate teams can utilize the stadium for training. Construction is expected to begin after the 2006 football season.

The University of Kansas has opened the 82,000-sf Victor and Helen Regnier Hall on its Edwards Campus in Overland Park, Kan. The four-level facility provides new areas for teaching and research and more than doubles the campus' original space. Regnier Hall houses a 240-seat auditorium, ten classrooms, eight tiered lecture halls, three computer labs, and faculty and administrative space.

California State University, Sacramento has completed the $17.3-million Academic Information Resource Center. Designed by Dreyfus + Blackford Architects of Sacramento and built by McCarthy , the facility will serve as the university's technology hub, providing student service facilities including: interactive learning labs, 24-hour student computer labs, video studios and classrooms, study areas, and distance learning facilities.

The recently completed $43.2-million Parnassus Services Seismic Replacement Building for the University of California, San Francisco is a six-story, 86,000-sf state-of-the-art laboratory facility built to support cancer, immunology, infectious disease, diabetes, hormone, reproductive biology, and cardiovascular research. Designed by Flad & Associates of San Francisco and constructed by McCarthy, the facility features a robotic cage wash and prep system.

Cal Poly Pomona has initiated construction on a $30.9 million, six-level, 735,000-sf parking structure. The long span, post-tensioned, cast in place structure was designed by Field Devereaux Architects and Engineers of Los Angeles. Constructed by McCarthy, the 2,378-car facility will require a precast concrete driven pile foundation system.

The University of California is planning to consolidate administrative operations with a new location in Oakland, Calif. Current plans for providing the approximately 400,000 sf the UC system seeks range from leasing existing space to new construction. The planned facility will enable the UC system to consolidate leased space for its administrative Office of the President, now located in 171,000 sf spread throughout four sites in Oakland and one in Berkeley.

North Carolina State University in Raleigh dedicated its new $35-million College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) Research Building in late April 2005. The 100,000-sf facility is designed for basic and clinical research in veterinary medicine. As the first structure built for the planned Centennial Biomedical Campus, the four-story facility houses 33 laboratories and two BSL-3 infectious disease research labs. The CVM Research Building also accommodates 74 offices and seven conference rooms.

The University at Buffalo School of Management, part of the SUNY system, dedicated the 23,000-sf Alfiero Center on April 26, 2005. Sited on the University's North campus, the $7-million, three-story structure houses three classrooms, an Internet cafe, an entrepreneurship suite, space for student clubs and meetings, and academic and career development offices. The building features wireless computer technology integrated throughout the facility.

The University of Hawaii is developing two new projects for its College of Tropical Agriculture. The Komohana Agricultural Complex in Hilo will be renovated and improved to house state-of-the-art labs, offices, greenhouses, and support spaces. Completion of the $14.5-million facility is slated for August 2007. In Molokai, a permanent facility will be constructed for the Molokai Extension Program which currently operates out of a renovated farm building. The $1.1-million project is expected to reach completion in March 2007.

The University of Texas Medical School at Houston broke ground in April 2005 on a new 208,500-sf research facility. The six-story, $78-million project will house four floors of research programs in neurobiology, the molecular biology of human pathogens, structural biology, and physiological genomics/systems biology. The top two floors of the facility will house a new animal care center to replace the one destroyed by Tropical Storm Allison in 2001.