Higher Education

Prairie View A&M University is expanding its presence at the Texas Medical Center in Houston with a new College of Nursing facility. Increasing teaching space to accommodate its growing program, the building design accommodates 110,000 sf for immediate occupancy with the capacity for future vertical expansion. Designed by Watkins Hamilton Ross, the facility will house classrooms, distance education classrooms, human simulation labs, skills labs, computer facilities, and a large auditorium.

Nova Southeastern University is constructing a new $47-million student center on its Davie, Fla., campus. The multi-level, 250,000-sf facility will house a student union, a fitness center, and space for ancillary functions and support. The western half of the structure will include a hydrotherapy spa and a basketball court; the three-story eastern half will connect to the bookstore and the existing student center.

Texas A&M University is building the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at its Corpus Christi campus. The new 56,000-sf marine science research facility will focus on teaching, research, and service related to the Gulf of Mexico with special emphasis on the Texas Gulf Coast. The facility will include an education outreach center, research and teaching laboratories, a seminar room, classrooms, and a conference facility. WHR is working in association with Richter Architects on the design of this facility.

University of California Davis has recently completed the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) in Davis, Calif. Constructed by McCarthy, the facility combines a variety of different uses, supporting the latest trends in student activity and recreation. Designed by Cannon Design of Westwood, Calif., the 155,000-sf ARC houses a conference center, student union, fitness club, and other amenities. Total construction cost for the project was approximately $31 million.

Rice University recently completed a 3,000-sf renovation/remodeling project on its Houston campus to create the Nanofabrication/Cleanroom Lab Facility in Abercrombie Hall. Constructed by McCarthy, the new facility is comprised of Class 100 and Class 1000 cleanrooms, office, and lab support space. It will provide researchers with the clean-air environment needed to study minute mechanisms the size of only a few atoms.

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center is planning to construct a $22-million regional biocontainment laboratory on its Memphis campus. Focusing on bio-defense and infectious disease research, the facility will be funded with bonds and $14.8 million from the National Institutes of Health . Additionally, a $43-million pharmacy facility will also be constructed at the UT Health Science Center.  

Pennsylvania State University has selected the Philadelphia office of Gilbane as construction manager for two major projects - the Forest Resources and Food Science buildings. As part of the College of Agricultural Sciences, the Forest Resources Building is 95,000 sf, providing fifty percent more space. The $27.3-million facility includes four teaching laboratories, two technology classrooms, three computer labs, and a 150-seat auditorium.

The University of Pennsylvania has selected Skanska USA Building to construct the new Skirkanich Hall Bioengineering Building in Philadelphia. Skirkanich Hall will be approximately 63,000 sf and will include labs, classrooms, offices, and support facilities that will be connected to the Moore and Towne buildings on campus. Work also includes renovations within the two buildings to accommodate the tie-ins, as well as infrastructure improvements.

Huston-Tillotson College in Austin, Texas has completed phase one of a $3 million renovation of the historic Old Administration Building. Project contractor VRW Construction initiated work on the project in January of 2004. The architect for the renovation is Alan Taniguchi Architects & Associates of Austin. The renovation of the first floor is complete; floors two and three will be renovated in later phases.

Florida International University in Miami has completed a $5.5-million addition and renovation project on Graham Center at the University Park Campus. The 15-month project was comprised of 36,110 sf of new construction including a mutlipurpose assembly space, administration, retail, and food service.  Renovations were carried out to 4,200 sf of existing space, primarily in computer lab areas. The project was designed by MC Harry Associates and constructed by Kaufman Lynn of Boca Raton, Fla.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) broke ground on a $57 million health sciences facility in October 2004. As the first step in UMKC's Hospital Hill master plan, the facility will house the School of Nursing , the School of Pharmacy, and teaching and research space. The architect is Clark Enersen Partners, and Research Facilities Design is providing the laboratory building design services.

Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, has retained The Stubbins Associates and Philadelphia-based Kling to provide architecture and engineering design services for The Cleveland Center for Structural Biology (CCSB) and The Wright Fuel Cell Group facility. The CCSB will house one of only four 900 MHz NMR spectrometers in the country. Once completed, the one-story, 18,500-sf facility will house both CCSB's Nuclear Magnetic Resonance facility and the Advancement Power Institute's Fuel Cell Laboratory.

The University of Georgia has selected Gilbane as the design-builder for the renovation and modernization of its College of Veterinary Medicine's 73,000-sf Animal Health Research Center, a BSL-3 Ag facility in Athens, Ga. The $35-million project includes reconstruction of laboratories, large animal suites, and support spaces to meet current codes; and upgrades to the existing building layout, security, systems, and functions.

The Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Hospital and Health System are developing a joint 295,000-sf research facility in Wauwatosa, Wis. The $117-million project will be comprised of a two-level facility for laboratory and support services, and two three-story laboratory wings, one for each organization. Construction is slated to begin in late fall of 2004 with the center opening in December 2006.

The University of Central Florida will construct approximately 24 new laboratories at the Florida Photonics Center of Excellence in Orlando. Funded by a $1.5-million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the 12,800-sf addition will be sited in the College of Optics and Photonics facility, increasing the building's footprint to almost 95,800 sf.