Higher Education

St. Johns River Community College has completed construction of the $21-million Thrasher-Horne Center for the Arts on its Orange Park, Fla., campus. The 84,666-sf facility houses two art galleries, a business/tourism center, and a 1,750-seat theater. Designed by Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc., the building was constructed by Dooley Mack Constructors. The facility took eighteen months to design and permit and just under two years to build.

Santa Clara University is planning to construct a new 194,000-sf library on its Santa Clara, Calif., campus. Funded in part by $17 million in contributions from private donors, the library will feature collaborative spaces for small groups, reading and research rooms, traditional study carrels, open stacks, a special collections archive, and an automated retrieval system enabling the library to store and access over a million volumes. 

Antioch University is planning to construct a 60,000-sf facility for the Campus West extension of its McGregor campus. Anchoring the Business and Education Park in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Campus West will begin construction in June 2005 with a grand opening slated for spring of 2007. Including a central three-story library and reading room, the Campus West facility will be two- and three-stories tall.

Construction recently began on the Biosciences Facility at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). As an interdisciplinary structure, it will greatly enhance the research mission, extend departmental boundaries, promote sharing of information, and provide an extension to the Biology Building , as well as other science facilities on the campus. WHR Architects worked in association with Mijares Mora Architects on the 99,000-gsf facility which includes research laboratories, a vivarium, aquarium, BSL-3 lab, support areas and office space.

Portland State University (PSU) is constructing the $44.5-million Northwest Center for Engineering, Science and Technology in Portland, Ore. The five-story, 130,000-sf facility will house the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory, 50 new teaching and research laboratories, additional classrooms and offices, and an auditorium. Designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership to meet the U.S.

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library opened in Springfield in October of 2004. Designed by HOK, the library features a 47,000-sf Abraham Lincoln collection containing 1,500 original manuscripts by Lincoln; 12,000 books and pamphlets; 1,200 prints and photographs; paintings and sculptures; and over 200 personal and family items. The facility also houses the Illinois State Historical Society and its collections. The library is the first completed structure in a $115-million complex designed to honor Lincoln.

Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., will initiate construction on a $6.5-million student housing project by year-end 2004. Slated for completion by fall of 2005, the apartment-style dormitories will house up to 140 students. The project contractor is Capstone Development Corp. of Birmingham, Ala.

The University of New Mexico is engaged in constructing a new state-of-the-art cleanroom facility in its Manufacturing Training and Technology Center in Albuquerque. Partially funded by a $1.25-million grant from the Economic Development Administration, the cleanroom will enable student training in microfabrication. It will also serve as a shared use facility where local businesses can rent space.

Washington University in St. Louis has selected McCarthy Building Companies as construction manager for two new facilities designed by internationally renowned architect Fumihiko Maki . The $28-million project represents the new construction phase of the Sam Fox Arts Center .

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) will initiate construction in March 2005 on the 161,757-sf Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building. The $128.6-million facility will be the fourth major research building at the 43-acre Mission Bay campus. More than doubling UCSF’s cancer research space, the five-story structure will accommodate 46 principal cancer researchers. Occupancy is slated for December 2007. An 18,500-sf vivarium will house approximately 16,000 cages for lab research animals, including 12,020 rodent cages.

Merck opened the 300,000-sf Edward M. Scolnick Research Center in Boston in early October 2004. Featuring 12 stories above ground and six stories below ground, the facility will accommodate a total of 500 employees, including 400 scientists developing treatments for obesity, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. Sited on the Emmanuel College campus, the biomedical research center was designed by architectural and engineering firm Kling.

The State University at Albany opened its new 194,000-sf Life Sciences Research Building in Albany, N.Y. on October 13, 2004. Sited on the uptown campus, the $78-million facility will significantly expand the space and tools available to UAlbany scientists.

Johns Hopkins Medicine has awarded Skanska USA Building the pre-construction services assignment for the New Clinical Building project for The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md. The 1.3 million-sf building will consist of a single structure with two distinct building programs - the Cardiovascular & Critical Care Tower and the Children's & Maternal Hospital. In addition, a new entry court and a below-grade parking garage will be constructed.

California State University Sacramento  is planning to construct the $73-million Recreation, Wellness and Events Center adjacent to its Hornet Stadium, which will also be remodeled. Funded in part by a $10-million commitment from real estate developer Alex G. Spanos, the proposed 236,000-sf multipurpose center will include an 8,000-seat arena, a new student health facility, rock-climbing wall, swimming pool, athletic courts, bowling center, fitness center, and conference center.

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte has selected general contractor Turner Construction to build its new 160,000-sf College of Health and Human Services facility. Designed by Pease Associates of Charlotte, the project includes laboratories, classrooms, faculty offices, a 60,000-sf pedestrian plaza and a 1,600-sf skylight. Completion is slated for July 2006.