Higher Education

Northwestern University has awarded the Chicago office of Turner Construction Company a $25.9 million contract for the construction of the 86,0000-sf Center for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-Assembly. The new, four-story plus basement chemistry lab building will house 16 labs, faculty and graduate student offices, conference rooms, and support spaces. The project scope includes laboratory casework, fume hoods, lab equipment, and extensive M/E/P systems and temperature controls required to support the lab environments. Turner is the construction manager on the project.

Delaware County Community College has begun construction on a new 82-acre campus at the site of the old Downingtown Agricultural and Industrial School. The campus is planned to accommodate more than 1,500 students. Two existing buildings at the site will be renovated during the first two phases of the four-phase project. Demolition of other existing buildings plus new construction of 45,000 sf are scheduled for completion by January 2002. A date has not been set for phases three and four.

Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences' new urban campus has been completed in eight months' time. Construction began in October 1999 when Payton Construction Corp. of Boston began the transformation of a historic five-story, 56,000-sf structure plus construction of a new 5,000-sf addition. The college, which offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in several health care disciplines, will accommodate 400 students and 50 faculty and staff in classrooms, labs, auditoriums, a libarary, and academic and administrative offices.

University of California-Davis has awarded McCarthy a $46 million contract to build a new Center for the Arts that will provide a premier concert hall on the campus. When completed, the 106,000-sf facility will be a multi-level performance hall seating 1,800 with a studio theater seating 250. McCarthy will act as contractor for the project.The architect is Boora Architects of Portland, Ore.

Trinity College of Washington, D.C., broke ground in early November 2000 on a 62,000-sf Trinity Center for Women & Girls in Sports. The $20 million sports complex will include a gym, swimming pool, locker rooms, fitness center, dance and aerobics studio, multipurpose space, and athletic offices. The sports facility, the largest in the country dedicated specifically for women and girls in sports, was designed by Geier, Brown & Renfrow Architects and The Hughes Group. Completion is scheduled for 2002.

Hamilton College has selected the Boston-based Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, Architecture & Engineering PC to design a new 180,000-sf unified science building for the campus.

Northeastern University broke ground in October on the new 84,000-sf George D. Behrakis Health Sciences Center, a $37 million health sciences complex designed to promote collaboration among the health professions, nursing, and pharmacy programs. The structure will accommodate classrooms, labs, and clinics for the Bouyé College of Health and Sciences. Completion is planned for summer of 2002.

Boston College's Higgins Hall is undergoing renovation and expansion that began in 1998. The original 77,000-sf facility will be expanded by 42,000 sf during the three-year, $80 million modernization which is designed to enhance collaborative and project-based learning. Higgins Hall houses the college's biology and physics departments.

Vista Community College will consolidate several locations at a new $35 million campus to be built on a half-block site near Berkeley's downtown Bay Area Rapid Transit station. Ratcliff Associates, based in Emeryville, Calif., has begun the design for the 160,000-sf building which will accommodate the college's 5,000 students.

California State University Hayward has joined with Geographic Network Affiliates International in a public-private partnership for the construction of an Internet switching center on six acres at the Hayward campus. Phase one of construction may be begin as early as April 2001 on a 180,000-sf facility to house network equipment and servers, with completion in fall.

City University of New York  has selected Philadelphia-based ARAMARK to commission Baruch College's new Academic Complex in Manhattan. The vertical campus consolidates more than half of the college's programs and spaces into one new high-tech facility. The $300 million, 785,000-gsf complex will rise 14 stories above groundextend three levels below, and will house 98 classrooms, 39 computer labs, more than 500 private offices, and 13 elevators within 416,000 nsf.

Georgia State University opened a biotechnology R&D center called CollabTech in November 2000. The incubator, funded partially by the Georgia Research Alliance and with support from the Advanced Technology Development Center, is aimed at providing access to the most advanced equipment for biotechnology start-ups, as well as enabling the university and its students to participate in cutting-edge research and discoveries. The University of Georgia plans to open an agricultural biology research center, called AgTech, in March 2001.

St. John's College has awarded Bovis Lend Lease of Washington, D.C., a contract for construction management as the college renovates both Mellon Hall and the Francis Scott Key Auditorium. Construction is scheduled to start in spring 2001.

Wittenberg University has selected Holabird & Root of Chicago to design the Barbara Deer Kuss Science Center and renovate the existing building. The first phase of a two phase project includes a 47,000-sf expansion of the original 96,000-sf facility to primarily house classroom, laboratory, and office space with state-of-the-art mechanical and electrical systems. The facility will house the disciplines of Biology, Biochemistry, Computer Science, Chemistry, Environmental Studies, Geology, Health Professions, Marine and Molecular Biology, Mathematics, and Physics.

Trevecca Nazarene University expected to dedicate its new $10.5 million Waggoner Library and Center for Instructional Technology in November 2000. The three-story, 61,489-sf facility was designed by Earl Swensson Associates (ESa) of Nashville. ESa also served as interior designer for the library. The periodicals and rotunda areas, which serve as the building's main gathering space, are also designed to accommodate hosted receptions. The grand reading room housing stacks and tables is bathed in natural light.