Higher Education

To produce more food for more people with fewer resources, due to climate change and population growth, agricultural bioscience research will need to adopt new research models, including interdisciplinary projects and corporate partnerships, to help fast-track product discovery and development. Timing will be important. “When I first started in agriculture, if you came up with a new corn hybrid, it could be 10 or 12 years before you would grow that hybrid commercially,” says Stephen Briggs, launch director for the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative. “You can’t afford to do that in a 12-year timeframe now. You have to shorten that to two or three years.

Founded at the intersection of health science and education, the Henderson County Health Sciences Center is building bridges between patients, students, and healthcare professionals. The three-story facility provides an enhanced experience for patients through a complex network of professionals working together. The facility is the result of a strategic partnership between Pardee Hospital, Blue Ridge Community College, Wingate University, and Henderson County. Henderson County coordinated and funded the project through a public-private partnership that expands space, funds, and resources for the three entities and the surrounding community.

The University of Maryland School of Medicine opened the $305 million Health Sciences Facility III in Baltimore in October of 2018. Designed by HOK and Design Collective, the 11-story, 435,000-sf building provides wet and dry labs for biomedical research, an imaging suite, offices, collaboration spaces, and conference and seminar rooms. Accommodating 400 faculty and staff members, the facility houses over 15 research teams engaged in the study of oncology, cardiology, neurology, genomics, and regenerative medicine.

Phoenix College celebrated the opening of its renovated physical sciences building in November of 2018. Designed by Holly Street Studio with Research Facilities Design (RFD) as laboratory design consultant, the $19.5 million project transformed the existing Building C into a 59,000-sf instructional center for programs in chemistry, engineering, physics, geology, geography, astronomy, and sustainability.

California State University, Chico broke ground on a $101 million physical sciences building in October of 2018. Providing teaching labs for chemistry, physics, and geology, the four-story, 110,200-sf STEM facility will house active learning classrooms, graduate research studios, collaboration spaces, administrative and faculty offices, and an interactive lab for elementary school programs.

Sam Houston State University will break ground in late 2018 on a 107,000-sf facility for the College of Osteopathic Medicine in Conroe, Texas. Designed by Page Southerland Page and The S/L/A/M Collaborative, the project will be located on seven acres in Grand Central Park, a 2,000-acre mixed-use campus created by Johnson Development Corp.

The University of Birmingham opened the £40 million Collaborative Teaching Laboratory in October of 2018 in the United Kingdom. Designed by Sheppard Robson to support team-based, experiential learning, the three-story, 72,120-sf facility accommodates STEM programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The interdisciplinary building provides an e-lab, a wet lab, a dry lab, and a discovery zone with interactive media displays on the ground floor.

The College of the Holy Cross is planning to begin construction in spring of 2019 on a $92 million center for the arts in Worcester, Mass. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the two-level, 85,500-sf building will include a 400-seat theater and concert hall, an experimental 200-seat studio theater, a media lab, rehearsal and dressing rooms, and workshops for lighting and set design.

South Dakota State University broke ground in October of 2018 on the $46.1 million Raven Precision Agriculture Center in Brookings. The 129,000-sf facility will provide collaborative classrooms and laboratories for the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences and the College of Engineering. Accommodating sophisticated instrumentation for data analytics and leading-edge farm equipment, the building will include flexible research areas for academic and industry partners.

The University of Ottawa opened the CAD$115 million STEM Complex in October of 2018. Designed by Perkins+Will to accommodate programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the collaborative 312,000-sf facility features open-plan teaching labs, a dedicated prototyping center, maker spaces with 3D printers, and an entrepreneurship hub.

The University of Kentucky opened the first phase of its $265 million health research facility in September of 2018. Located in Lexington, the six-story, 300,000-sf building accommodates the study of health disparities in conditions including cancer, diabetes, obesity, and substance abuse. Designed by HGA Architects and Engineers, the multidisciplinary research facility features open labs with collocated computational and wet bench space. The first phase of construction included completion of the first three floors and parts of the basement level.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison broke ground in September of 2018 on a $133 million project to accommodate the department of Chemistry. A nine-story tower will be added to the Daniels Chemistry Building, providing three floors of undergraduate teaching labs, one floor of research labs, two large lecture halls, a flexible active learning studio, an atrium, an information commons, conference rooms, offices, and classrooms. Six undergraduate teaching labs in the Daniels Building will be renovated, and new classrooms, offices, and study areas will be created.

The University of California, Irvine opened the $67 million Anteater Learning Pavilion in October of 2018. Designed by LMN Architects, the dedicated active learning facility includes the two-story Pavilion which houses a 250-seat lecture hall and a 400-seat lecture hall with double-tier seating. A central circulation structure called the Bridge provides connectivity to a three-story wing offering classrooms, offices, computer labs, and a student mixing hall.

Columbia University opened The Forum in September of 2018 in New York. Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop with Dattner Architects as executive architect, the 56,000-sf facility provides a 437-seat auditorium, conference and breakout rooms, collaboration spaces, and faculty offices. Acting as the gateway to the new Manhattanville campus, the triangular-shaped building offers flexible multiuse spaces and a 4,200-sf café on the ground floor to promote community engagement.

Universities typically build or acquire new academic space sparingly, after long deliberation. When changing economic conditions dropped a whole campus into Lehigh University’s lap, the challenge has been to use that space in ways that support today’s education. Industrial giant Bethlehem Steel didn’t go formally bankrupt until 2001, but the writing was on the wall as early as 1987, when the company sold the majority of its “Mountaintop” research facility to Lehigh, which has since acquired two more buildings there, including Mountaintop C. That massive building’s three high bays attached to a curved bank of offices, is now home to student-driven projects in an environment that seeks to keep elements of the industrial feel and keep large bays as relatively rough, unfinished space.