Higher Education

Marquette University is planning to build an $18.5 million facility for its physician assistant program in Milwaukee. Designed by HGA and Groth Design Group, the 44,000-sf building will accommodate sophisticated classrooms, teaching labs, and clinical simulation rooms. The project will enable the university to address primary care provider shortages and meet increasing enrollment demand. The construction manager is C.D. Smith and occupancy is expected in summer of 2019.

Many young people entering academia and the workforce today have grown up with “maker spaces,” where equipment like 3D printers helps bring together teams creating in the physical world. The spaces—available in schools, libraries, and community centers, as well as universities and corporations—teach technical skills but also foster soft skills, like collaboration and project planning. Successful maker spaces can be popular and productive, drawing in visitors, donors, and prospective students. But they require thoughtful planning to manage the demand for space, and effective governance for budget, safety, and training, while also leaving room for the experimental and creative spirit the spaces seek to encourage.

Located in the historic Hood Park in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood, Cambridge College’s new campus is a 108,000-sf fitout that includes 45 classrooms accommodating from 10 to 35 students, two teaching labs, computer labs, offices, and community space. Classrooms can be physically divided to accommodate larger or smaller numbers of students. The heart of the campus is the Town Common, a multi-purpose space that houses both Cambridge College and community events, giving the college a place to have large gatherings.

Seneca College is constructing the CAD$85 million Centre for Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship in North York, Ontario. Designed by Perkins+Will, the five-story, 274,000-sf building will offer integrated facilities for applied research and commercialization, specialized training, and business incubation. Supporting the development of industry partnerships, the project will provide collaborative laboratories, maker spaces, instrumentation suites, classrooms, and a large atrium and event space.

The University of Maine is planning to build the $80 million Engineering Education and Design Center in Orono. Designed by Ellenzweig and WBRC Architects and Engineers, the 120,000-sf teaching and research building will provide classrooms and labs for experiential, team-based learning. Supporting the expansion of UMaine's engineering program, the facility will feature capstone project rooms for multidisciplinary student collaboration. Construction could begin in late 2019 with completion expected in 2022.

Purdue University dedicated its $60 million, 122,462-sf animal sciences complex in March of 2018 in West Lafayette, Ind. Ground was broken in November of 2015 on the project, which includes the Hobart and Russell Creighton Hall of Animal Sciences, the Land O' Lakes Center for Experiential Learning, and the Purina Pavilion.

The trustees of Kent State University have approved a ten-year campus master plan that represents an investment of $1 billion over the next decade. Enhancing the iconic Front Campus, the three-phase project will create healthy living-learning environments connected by a walkable campus core linking purpose-built classrooms, labs, and studios.

Kaleida Health opened the $270 million John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital in March of 2018. Located on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, the 12-story, 410,000-sf project is a teaching hospital for the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The 185-bed facility is a Level 1 pediatric trauma center, housing a 64-bed neonatal ICU with private rooms, a pediatric ICU with 20 private rooms, and a labor and delivery department.

The new Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo returns UB’s medical school to downtown Buffalo and allows it to increase enrollment by 25 percent, with the goal of pursuing breakthroughs in biomedical research and transforming healthcare in Western New York. Three research floors are sandwiched between the classroom and lecture hall areas on the lower floors—which include a transit hub on the ground floor—and the more specialized teaching spaces on the upper stories. Deliberately positioned as a gateway to the medical campus, two L-shaped structures are linked by a six-story, light-filled atrium featuring multiple collaboration areas.

The University of Lethbridge is constructing the CAD$280 million Destination Project in Alberta, Canada. Supporting multidisciplinary science programs, the 387,500-sf building will provide flexible teaching and research labs, academic classrooms, meeting rooms, gathering areas, and a central atrium. Designed to foster entrepreneurship and the commercialization of research discoveries, the facility will include incubator space for industry partners as well as a community education venue offering interactive science displays.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will develop a new academic medical complex by transforming the former Columbia St. Mary hospital campus in Milwaukee. Designed by Kahler Slater, the $80 million project includes the renovation of 470,000 sf in several buildings to accommodate programs for the College of Nursing, the College of Health Sciences, the School of Information Studies, and Student Health Services.

The University of Canterbury opened the first phase of the NZD$220 million Rutherford Regional Science and Innovation Centre in February of 2018 in Christchurch, New Zealand. Designed by Jasmax in association with laboratory design consultant DJRD, the Ernest Rutherford building provides technology-rich teaching and research space for the College of Science.

Tarleton State University broke ground in February of 2018 on the first phase of its new Forth Worth campus. Designed by Perkins+Will, the three-story, 76,000-sf academic facility will offer innovative learning spaces, offices, a comprehensive student services hub, gathering and event areas, and a community counseling center. The campus will enable Tarleton to engage in collaborative workforce development initiatives with industry partners to promote economic growth in North Texas.

Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology opened the Project Centre for Biomedical Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing (BEAM) in March of 2018 in Hamilton, Ontario. Located in the McMaster Innovation Park, the $33 million project involved the renovation and fit-out of an existing warehouse to create a 20,000-sf innovation center offering research, office, and manufacturing space. An additional 20,000 sf on the second floor will house laboratories and offices in the future.

The new engineering building at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) not only relieves overcrowding at the College of Engineering and Mines, it also cultivates interdisciplinary research and entrepreneurship, with open, flexible labs; the incorporation of computer science; and a direct link to the School of Management. These features combine to create an environment where students learn hands on how to solve problems and speed their ideas to market, in a facility made transparent with extensive glazing, both inside and out.