Higher Education

The Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum, housed in the Old Patent Office Building in Washington, is undergoing a $211 million renovation. Slated for completion in 2006, the facility has been closed and under construction since January 2000. Including physical plant renewal and extensive exterior and interior work, the project will add a conservation lab and a gilding frame shop, both visible to the public, as well as a 346-seat below-grade auditorium.

The Coca-Cola Corp. and The Marcus Foundation, developer of the new Georgia Aquarium, have selected The Jerde Partnership International of Los Angeles to create the master site plan for the new 20-acre Atlanta site to house the World Of Coca-Cola and the Georgia Aquarium. The Jerde Partnership will work with Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates, the architects for the Georgia Aquarium, on the design of the interactive Coca-Cola museum.

Aviation Institute of Maintenance has relocated to a $2-million, 16,000-sf facility constructed for the school by Turner Construction at the Northeast Philadelphia Airport.  Formerly known as the Quaker City Institute of Aviation, the school moved to its new location from South Philadelphia.

Baylor University has selected McCarthy to build a four-level, precast concrete structure to house parking, office, and shell space.

Plans for the new Newseum facility in Washington have been completed by Polshek Partnership Architects and Ralph Appelbaum Associates. The $400-million, 531,000-sf facility will house the six-level, 215,000-sf Newseum, 30,000-sf of retail, approximately 100 condominiums, a restaurant, and new offices for the Freedom Forum, the media foundation that supports the Newseum. Tripling the space of the previous Newseum in Arlington, the facility will be constructed on the former site of the D.C.

Brooks College opened the doors of its new 53,318-sf Sunnyvale campus on Oct. 14. The college offers an accelerated 18-month associate degree program for network technology and graphic design. The facility previously housed office and R&D space for National Semiconductor University. Brooks College is part of Career Education Corp., a Hoffman, Ill.-based organization that operates 43 colleges, schools and universities in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and the United Arab Emirates.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has selected McCarthy to construct its new $70-million Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies in Troy, N.Y. Upon completion in 2004, the 218,000-sf building will house 60 faculty and more than 300 researchers and graduate students dedicated to researching the application of engineering and the physical and information sciences to the life sciences. Focus areas will include functional tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, integrated systems biology, bioinformatics, biocatalysis and metabolic engineering.

Harvard University will develop the Molecular Target Laboratory with a $40-million grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. The laboratory will use high throughput assays to identify disease-causing proteins and discover compounds to block them.

Long Beach Unified School District is nearing completion of its largest project in decades, the Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo Center for Advanced Technology. Totalling 22 separate structures spread over a 54-acre site, the $50-million project had three distinct building phases over three years. Architect for the project is Thomas Blurock Architects of Costa Mesa, Calif., with McCarthy as construction manager.

Chandler Unified School District has completed work with contractor McCarthy on Phase I of the first CM-at-risk public education projects ever awarded in Arizona. A $15.3-million new shared campus housing an elementary and junior high school, Phase I includes 94,000 sf of space for two junior high wings plus administrative, kitchen, cafeteria and gym facilities. Phase II, a 79,000-sf media center and four elementary school pods, began construction in July. Architect for the project was Orcutt/Winslow Partnership of Phoenix.

Stanford University is constructing the $161-million Center for Cancer Treatment and Prevention/Ambulatory Care Pavilion. Slated to open in spring of 2004, the oncology center will unite Stanford's diagnostic, treatment and research facilities in a single location.

George Washington University broke ground on its 167,000-sf Duques Hall business school complex in October 2002. Housing an executive conference center and a 115-seat auditorium, the facility features a capital markets room where students can receive real-time quotes and utilize propriety software and financial information systems. Designed by architect SmithGroup, the facility will consolidate business school classrooms currently dispersed throughout the campus.

Duke University's Pratt School of Business is building the $97-million Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Medicine and Applied Sciences. The two-building, 322,000-sf complex is located across the street from Hudson Hall, home of the Pratt School of Engineering. The project is slated for completion in fall 2004.

The Woodruff Arts Center is expanding its High Museum of Art. Phase I of the expansion includes four buildings designed by Renzo Piano slated for completion by 2005. Providing exhibition space, increased education and programming space, office facilities, and public amenities, the project will more than double the museum's size. The current High Museum of Art, designed by Richard Meier, consists of 135,000 sf. The 177,000-sf addition will enlarge the museum to 312,000 sf.

Amherst College has selected Payette Associates of Boston to design a new 60,000-sf combined geology building and natural history museum.