Higher Education

Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., has contracted Turner Construction Co. to build the $18-million Milstein Hall School of Architecture. Turner’s Buffalo and Albany offices will oversee the project.

The University at Buffalo SUNY has selected Turner Construction Co. to oversee the development of the $85-million Buffalo Life Sciences Complex at Roswell Park Cancer Center and the Bioinformatics facility.

The Institute for Economic Development will occupy its new $6-million facility in downtown San Antonio by July of 2003. Located near the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), the new facility will enable collaboration with UTSA faculty and interns. Ground was broken on the 33,000-sf facility last March. The Institute of Economic Development will relocate its 90 employees from its current KellyUSA location to the four-story facility, which is wired for videoconferencing and distance-business learning workshops.

The Maritime College, a specialized college of the State University of New York, has selected the New York division of Skanska USA Building as construction manager for a new dormitory building on its Throggs Neck campus. The project is being developed in conjunction with the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. The new 300-bed residence hall will be a four-story steel structure. At the rear of the building, sections of glass curtainwall will allow students to view Long Island Sound from one of the centrally located lounge areas.

Venter Science Foundation Joint Technology Center will open its 60,000-sf facility in Rockville in June 2003. The high-throughput DNA sequencing center will enable scientists from Craig Venter’s Center for the Advancement of Genomics (TCAG) and Duke University to work together to refine genomics research and lower the cost of DNA sequencing technologies. TCAG is a non-profit genomics research and policy center.

The University of Washington has awarded Skanska USA Building the pre-construction services assignment for the Johnson Hall renovation in Seattle. The pre-construction phase will begin in the third quarter of 2003. If the project enters the construction phase, which is expected in January 2004, the anticipated construction value for the project would be approximately $35-million. Skanska’s Seattle office will oversee the project, which includes seismic upgrades and renovation/restoration of the 121,000-sf five-story 1930’s historic structure.

The University at Albany SUNY has selected M+W Zander to design and construct the new Nanotechnology Design and Research Center. M+W Zander U.S. Operations, a subsidiary of M+W Zander, Stuttgart, will plan and construct the entire complex with an area of 20,000 square meters including a cleanroom with an area measuring 3,500 square meters. The order volume of the first project phase, which is scheduled for completion in early 2004, amounts to $15-million. The new research complex is intended for R&D of pioneering processes and technology used in semiconductor manufacture.

The Bullis School has opened its $8-million Blair Family Center for the Arts in Potomac, Md. Designed by Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architecture & Engineering, the center includes classrooms, performing and visual arts teaching spaces, and a 750-seat auditorium and theater. The two-story lobby accommodates a reception area for a student art work gallery. Studios for painting, printmaking, music, and sculpture are housed in the teaching wing of the building, as well as a multimedia lab. The Bullis School is a college preparatory school.

The University of Notre Dame has completed the $5-million Chemistry Research Center in Notre Dame, Ind. Designed by The S/L/A/M Collaborative, the 16,000-sf laboratory extension to the chemistry and physics complex accommodates nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging equipment for state-of-the-art molecular studies. The sophisticated design of the new chemistry facility features high bay space for the NMR equipment, four faculty research labs, and ten faculty offices.

The University of Dayton began construction on a $20-million campus residence hall in May 2003. Housing up to 400 first and second year students, the 160,000-sf facility will also accommodate conference rooms, classrooms, a free-standing chapel and a food emporium. Operations to be relocated to the facility include the bookstore, campus ministry offices, credit union, and post office. The four-story project is slated to open in August 2004. Miller-Valentine Group is the general contractor and one of the project architects is Edge and Tinney Architects.

Saint Louis University has selected Alberici Constructors to head a team to design and build a 13,000-seat arena in Midtown. The project team includes architectural firm Mackey Mitchell Associates and Sink Combs Dethlefs, a sports architectural firm. Estimated to cost approximately $70-million, the facility will host campus, sporting, cultural, and convention events.

The National Atomic Museum in Albuquerque is planning a new 40,000-sf facility and exhibition area in the city’s Balloon Fiesta Park. Showcasing nuclear technology exhibits, the Smithsonian Affiliate museum will be renamed the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History when it reopens in 2006. The Department of Energy recently awarded the museum $2.5-million in initial funding towards the museum’s capital campaign of $18 million for the new facility. The museum is operated by Sandia National Laboratories and owned by the Department of Energy.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute has opened its new Bioengineering Institute in Worcester, Mass. The project is the centerpiece of the 15-acre former brownfield site called Gateway Park, slated by the city for redevelopment as a biotechnology campus. The Institute will enable early-stage technology to move from lab through development to a stage attractive to venture capitalists and investors.

Emory University has initiated construction on a new 144,000-sf, $42-million pediatrics building in Atlanta. The six-story facility, slated for completion in summer 2004, will house 31 exam rooms grouped with separate waiting rooms. Setting apart the Emory Children’s Center and the Department of Pediatrics, the facility will consolidate and replace several smaller pediatric operations, providing increased clinic, office, and research space.

The National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) is constructing its 450,000-sf headquarters in Hampton, Va. The NIA is a partnership of six universities with NASA, including Georgia Tech, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, the University of Virginia, the University of Maryland, North Carolina State University, and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. The NIA will offer masters and doctorate degrees and will enable NASA to develop cost-effective and innovative technologies in all aerospace areas and in atmospheric science.