Higher Education

Washington University School of Medicine recently completed the $5-million renovation of the fifth floor of the McDonnell Medical Sciences Building. The 30,000-sf project involved gutting the existing floor and constructing new offices, laboratories, cold rooms, microscope rooms, and tissue culture rooms for the departments of molecular oncology and cell biology. The renovation also included the creation of a BSL-3 laboratory. The project contractor was Tarlton Corp. of St. Louis.

Sanford-Brown College is developing a $3.6-million educational facility in the Eastport Plaza Business Park in Collinsville, Ill. Sited on six acres, the facility will enable the college to more than double its current 263-student enrollment at the campus. Housing classrooms, teacher and administrator offices, medical and computer labs, a bookstore, and a library, the facility will feature state-of-the-art wireless technology. Project contractor Impact Strategies is initiating construction in September 2003 with completion expected in April 2004. The facility was designed by Arcturis Inc.

St. Louis Community College recently completed the 59,000-sf South County Education and University Center. An extension of the Meramec campus, the facility will serve approximately 2,000 students. The technology-rich facility features three computer labs, 17 “smart” classrooms, two interactive TV rooms connecting to other colleges, and computer carts with radio cards for wireless Internet access. 19 telecommunications enclosures provide wireless Internet connection from nearly everywhere in the building. Ground was broken on the project in December 2001 by project contractor Fru-Con Corp.

The University of Missouri-St. Louis has opened the new $52-million Blanch M. Touhill Performing Arts Center. The 123,000-sf facility houses the 1,625 Anheuser Busch Performance Hall and the 300-seat E. Desmond and Mary Ann Lee Theatre. Designed by Pei-Cobb Freed & Partners with the acoustic firm of Kirkegaard Associates, the center accommodates dressing rooms, performer lounges, two box offices, and a 42 x 54 ft rehearsal room. The center, which has a $6-million operating budget, will be used by both the university and the performing arts community.

Webster University opened its new $21-million Emerson Library on July 1, 2003. The 71,500-sf, five-floor facility accommodates 750 data ports, 20 small-group study rooms, a 100-person lecture room, an electronic classroom, and a 25-computer cyber café. The facility is Webster's only U.S. library; all other Webster campuses can access the library's materials in computer labs. Contractor Paric Corp. broke ground on the project in 2001. The library was designed by architectural firm Perry, Dean, Rogers & Partners of Boston.  

Yale School of Medicine’s Biomedical Research and Teaching Facility, known as 300 Cedar Street, is designed to maximize collaboration between basic and clinical scientific disciplines. Designed by Payette Associates, the 450,000-gsf project was dedicated on the New Haven, Ct.,campus in May 2003. A six-story, 350,000-gsf wing supports flexible laboratories for 700 scientists focused on disease-related research. A four-story, 100,000-gsf wing supports medical education including the school’s new gross anatomy and histology teaching laboratories for medical and physician associate students.

Northern Virginia Community College has selected Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architecture & Engineering to design the Bisdorf Building addition and renovationon at its Alexandria, Va., campus. A 22,000-sf lab and classroom area will be expanded with the construction of a 75,000-sf building accommodating science labs, lecture halls, classrooms, conference rooms, student activity and service areas. The project is slated for completion in 2006.

The University of Texas at San Antonio has created the Center of Excellence in Biotechnology & Bioprocessing Education at Brooks City-Base. Sited in the newly renovated Building 175W, the 8,000-sf facility will train military and civilian personnel how to handle biosensors, vaccines, and other biological products.

Amatrol Inc. is planning to build an 80,000-sf facility in the Northport Business Centre in Jeffersonville, Ky. Designed by Kovert-Hawkins Architects of Jeffersonville, the facility will house the company’s headquarters, R&D operations, client training center, and manufacturing operations. Project contractor AML, based in Floyds Knobs, will begin construction in September 2003 with completion expected in January 2004. Amatrol, a producer of skill-based technical learning systems for use in education, is currently housed in 45,000 sf in the Jeffersonville Industrial Park.  

California Polytechnic University is planning to construct the new $25-million Performing Arts and Digital Media Studio Center on its Pomona campus.

Linfield College has completed a new 72,000-sf library and theater building at its Keck campus in McMinnville, Ore. The facility’s 55,000-sf of library can accommodate 250,000 volumes, 50 computer work stations and study space for 400 students. The 17,000-sf theater seats 140. BOORA Architects of Portland designed both facilities The building was converted from a former hearing aid production facility. The college is also planning a new 19,000-sf fine arts complex and 32,000-sf music building on the Keck Quad, also designed by BOORA.

Portland State University (PSU) received a $500,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation toward the construction of the Northwest Center for Engineering, Science, and Technology. Housing PSU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, the center will be comprised of a 130,000-sf tower housing 47 new classrooms and laboratories, a student service center, and Oregon MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement) facilities.

National Hispanic University, a non-profit institution, is constructing an $18-million, 65,000-sf facility in San Jose. Housing classrooms, computer labs, science labs, administrative space, a library, a learning center, and a three-story glass atrium, the facility will be constructed on the former site of Fred Marten Elementary School. The project team includes Architectural Technologies as designer and Devcon Construction as general contractor. Completion is expected in fall of 2004.

Mid-Pacific Institute, a college preparatory school in Honolulu, opened its new technology complex and plaza in August 2003. The three-building, 39,000-sf complex houses 14 math and science classrooms, a biotechnology lab, a distance learning center, a digital video studio, meeting rooms with video conferencing capabilities, and zones for robotics, computational sciences, engineering, and design.

Georgetown University has completed its 860,000-sf Southwest Quadrangle Project. Designed as three connected buildings, the complex includes three 315,400-sf residence halls, a 64,000-sf Jesuit community residence and chapel, an 81,170-sf dining hall, and a 400,000-sf, 780-vehicle underground parking garage with a fuel cell bus maintenance facility at the lowest level. Architect of record for the project is Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture and Engineering, with Clark Construction Group as project contractor. The design architect is Robert A.M. Stern Architects of New York.