North Carolina State University broke ground in April of 2018 on the $150 million Fitts-Woolard Hall in Raleigh. Accommodating the Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, the 250,000-sf project will provide leading-edge laboratories and classrooms, as well as administrative space for the office of the dean.
Kewaunee Scientific has partnered with international design studio Rainlight to create the CODA laboratory furniture benching system. CODA’s modular design offers adjustable height surfaces, moveable shelving, and integrated lighting, with companion tables available to complement the main system. With spans of up to 10 feet long between structural supports, CODA’s bench enables greater flexibility for lab layout.
The University of Plymouth opened the £17 million Derriford Research Facility in May of 2018 in the United Kingdom. Sited adjacent to the Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry at Plymouth Science Park, the 25,000-sf building is the headquarters of the Institute of Translational and Stratified Medicine.
Southern New Hampshire University is planning to build a 67,000-sf facility for the College of Engineering, Technology, and Aeronautics in Manchester, N.H. Designed by Wilson Architects, the three-story STEM building will provide teaching labs, flexible classrooms, collaboration spaces, a computer lab, and suites for robotics, materials science, and 2D/3D printing. The facility will feature four CDIO (Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate) hubs where students can work on projects from conception through operation to create real-world solutions and products.
SUNY New Paltz is building the $14 million Engineering Innovation Hub in New Paltz, N.Y. Accommodating a new bachelor’s degree program in mechanical engineering, the 19,500-sf facility will feature the Hudson Valley Advanced Manufacturing Center to provide instruction in 3D design and printing. Designed by Urbahn Associates to foster collaboration with industry partners, the hub will also include space for businesses participating in the START-UP NY economic development incentive program. Completion is expected in summer of 2019.
The University of Houston opened the $145 million Health 2 facility in May of 2018. Designed by Shepley Bulfinch, the nine-story, 300,000-sf project is the university's second health and biosciences building and houses the College of Pharmacy, the Department of Health and Human Performance, the Student Health Services Clinic, and the Primary Care and Behavior Clinics.
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) inaugurated the 145,300-sf Dow Innovation Center in May of 2018. Created in partnership with The Dow Chemical Company, the facility offers sophisticated research laboratories for creation of advanced technologies for water, oil, and gas processing, and the development of innovative construction materials and coatings. The project was designed by HOK and Kirksey Architects with Vanderweil Engineers as MEP engineer.
The University of Kentucky opened its renovated Student Center in late April of 2018 in Lexington. The 378,000-sf facility features a three-story atrium with a terraced interaction staircase offering informal spaces for studying and socializing. Designed by Perkins+Will, the $200 million project includes two towers, one housing a 564-seat cinema and the other a black box theater.
The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is building the $200 million Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Neuroscience Research Building in Pasadena. Designed by SmithGroup to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration, the three-story, 150,000-sf facility will provide wet, dry, and computational research labs, a teaching lab, a vivarium, a 150-seat lecture hall, conference rooms, and offices for investigators and staff.
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center celebrated the opening of the $39.7 million Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Simulation (CHIPS) in Memphis in May of 2018. Designed by brg3s architects, the three-story, 45,000-sf facility will enable students from the colleges of dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, health professions, graduate health sciences, and medicine to train together in the delivery of team-based care.
Vermeulens has released its market outlook report for the first quarter of 2018. Key points include:
These are trying times for public higher education. Scarce capital funding, changing student demographics, missed enrollment targets, hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance, combined with the academic shift to active learning—all these factors, and more, suggest the need to rethink the traditional residential campus. Bowling Green State University (BGSU) has taken a wide-ranging look at the physical form and mode of operation of its campus, with an eye on more productive asset utilization and greater design flexibility. Its phased, multi-year plan has entailed demolition, renovation and adaptive reuse, and new construction. The plan also reflects a new vision of shared spaces that allow the school to do more with less, implemented by minimizing or eliminating single-use spaces, designing versatile classrooms that accommodate a variety of programs, creating multipurpose buildings that welcome a wide portion of the student body, and expanding the scheduling window.
A leader in the field of plant sciences, Iowa State University, in Ames, Iowa, is recognized as a pipeline of new ideas and talent for the state’s massive agriculture industry. Yet despite explosive growth in biosciences enrollment at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, the most recent biosciences building was 30 years old and “bursting at the seams,” says Mark Rhoades, chief design officer and principal, The S/L/A/M Collaborative.
Texas A&M University opened the $73 million Center for Infrastructure Renewal in April of 2018. Located on the RELLIS campus in Bryan, the 138,000-sf project accommodates research in nine critical infrastructure sectors: transportation systems, communications, advanced manufacturing, smart energy, information technology, chemicals, nuclear reactors, materials and waste, and water and wastewater systems.
The University of Nebraska at Kearney broke ground in May of 2018 on the $30 million Discovery Hall. Replacing the existing Otto Olsen building, the collaborative 90,000-sf facility will accommodate programs in mathematics, engineering, physics and astronomy, construction management, industrial distribution, interior design, aviation, and computer sciences and information technology. The interdisciplinary STEM building will provide technology-rich labs and classrooms, a full-motion simulator, and an ITEC Testing Center.
