Higher Education

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.

Georgia Institute of Technology has renovated its existing 1996 Olympic swimming and diving venue into a new student recreation center. Designed by St. Louis-based Hastings & Chivetta Architects, the project creates a 175-foot continuous floor span, the longest ever known. This was accomplished by the construction of an interstitial floor at the fourth level above the existing pool complex, creating 60,000 sf of gymnasium and multi-purpose space.

Southwestern College in Chula Vista, Calif., completed its Learning Resource Center in January 2003. The centerpiece of the new campus “gateway,” the 90,000-sf facility expands and upgrades library functions and houses a new distance learning center, an 8,000-sf audio/visual/television production studio, flexible meeting spaces, and a gallery. Designed by LPA, the Learning Resource Center includes the latest state-of-the-art technologies including computer and non-print services.

The Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), a former incubator, will lease an additional 10,500 sf on the ninth floor of One Broadway in Cambridge’s Kendall Square. The lease will add to the 18,000-sf that CIC currently occupies in the facility, which is owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Emory University is creating the Epithelial Pathobiology Research Development Center in Atlanta. The center will be comprised of three core facilities including imaging and gene expression analysis operations. Housing 15 investigators from four School of Medicine departments, the center is being funded by a five-year, $2.6-million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

The University of South Florida College of Nursing has received a $750,000 donation from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida to establish the Center for Advanced Nursing. Matched by funds from the state’s Facility Enhancement Challenge Grant Program, the facility will be a major component of the new USF Healthcare & Education Center that will house the College of Nursing and a center for integrated education and clinical care.

The Advanced Technology Center at Florida Community College at Jacksonville received the design excellence merit award from the Florida Association of the American Institute of Architects on August 2, 2003. Designed by KBJ Architects, the 122,000-sf, three-phase technology center is a partnership between the business community and the college. Equipment for the classes taught in the $17.9-million center is donated by businesses, who utilize some of the space.

ITT Technical Institute has opened a new campus in Duluth, Ga. The newly constructed building accommodates ten classrooms, ten laboratories, and several administrative offices. ITT is one of the nation’s largest technical schools, with 75 campuses in the United States.

The University of Louisville has selected architects Arrasmith, Judd, Rapp, Chovan Inc. of Louisville and SmithGroup of Detroit to design its third biomedical research building at the downtown Health Sciences Campus. The $98 million, 250,000-sf facility is expected to reach seven or eight stories in height and will be constructed on a former U of L parking lot.

The University of Nuevo Leon (UANL) has designated 4,000 sf in Monterrey as Mexico’s first DNA diagnostics lab. Providing the university with a place to conduct clinical drug trials, the facility will focus on the commercialization of biotechnology research.