Higher Education

Southwestern University broke ground in February of 2018 on the second phase of a $37 million expansion of the Fondren-Jones Science Center in Georgetown, Texas. The 58,000-sf project includes 20,000 sf of new construction and 38,000 sf of renovated space, providing eight research labs, four classrooms, four teaching labs, three seminar rooms, three computer labs, and 42 offices. Designed to promote inquiry-based learning, the facility will feature an atrium to foster interaction between students from all disciplines and collaborative learning studios on each floor.

The Medical College of Wisconsin opened the $90 million Hub for Collaborative Medicine in February of 2018 in Wauwatosa. Designed by Flad Architects, the eight-story, 318,000-sf administrative building can house 1,500 occupants, including clinicians, researchers, faculty members, and administrative staff. The facility is physically connected to the existing Medical Education and Health Research Center buildings to the north at multiple levels, and connected to the Wisconsin Diagnostic Laboratory Building to the south by an enclosed elevated skywalk.

The University of New Mexico will begin construction in spring of 2018 on the $65.7 million Physics, Astronomy, and Interdisciplinary Science Center in Albuquerque. Designed by EYP Architecture & Engineering and Van H. Gilbert, the 139,100-gsf facility will provide a variety of collaborative teaching and research spaces as well as housing the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

At its new West Campus, Yale University is incrementally repurposing and renovating a former corporate pharmaceutical manufacturing facility for new interdisciplinary programs, including the Energy Sciences Institute (ESI) and Yale West Campus Materials Characterization Core (MCC).

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh are partnering to renovate a former Ford assembly plant and showroom to create the $250 million Immune Transplant and Therapy Center in Bloomfield. Developed in partership with Wexford Science & Technology LLC, the 100-year-old structure will be transformed into an eight-story innovation hub providing labs, offices, and business incubator space.

Marquette University will break ground in March of 2018 on the $24 million Athletic and Human Performance Research Center in Milwaukee. The 46,000-sf facility will include core labs for the study of human performance, interdisciplinary faculty research space, strength and conditioning facilities for the athletics department, and locker rooms and support areas for golf and lacrosse. The project will support collaborative research with healthcare providers and medical industry partners. Occupancy is expected in spring of 2019. 

Bates College is planning to construct a 65,000-gsf science building in Lewiston, Maine. Designed by Payette, the three-story interdisciplinary facility will provide teaching and research labs, classrooms, study areas, and shared instrumentation rooms to support programs in chemistry, biology, and neuroscience. The project is part of a comprehensive reconfiguration of the school's science facilities and is funded in part by a $50 million donation. The general contractor for the building is Consigli Construction. 

The University of North Carolina Wilmington broke ground in January of 2018 on the $66 million Veterans Hall. Housing the College of Health and Human Services, the 145,000-sf facility will provide applied learning labs, classrooms, and faculty offices to support programs in nursing, social work, allied health, and exercise.

Leeds Beckett University began construction in January of 2018 on the £80 million Creative Arts Building in the United Kingdom. Designed by Hawkins\Brown, the 156,000-sf facility will house the School of Film, Music and Performing Arts, as well as accommodating the department of fashion.

The University of Copenhagen opened Maersk Tower in January of 2018 in Denmark. Designed by C.F. Møller Architects, the 460,000-sf project provides leading-edge teaching and research facilities for the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. Housing labs, classrooms, offices, auditoria, meeting rooms, and a conference center, the 16-story tower represents an extension of the Panum complex and features a science plaza at the main entrance linking the existing structures with the new tower.

Southwestern College completed its $52 million Wellness and Aquatics Complex in January of 2018 in Chula Vista, Calif. Designed by Gensler, the three-story, 75,000-asf facility provides classrooms, fitness labs, exercise rooms, offices, locker rooms, a competitive gymnasium, a 25-meter therapy pool, and two Olympic-sized swimming pools. Replacing existing sports science and recreation facilities, the building is strategically sited adjacent to DeVore Stadium and the Fieldhouse Classroom.

The Greer Environmental Sciences Center at Virginia Wesleyan University is the institution’s response to a nearly 100 percent enrollment increase in their environmental sciences and biology department over five years. Located near the Chesapeake Bay, in Virginia Beach, the new 40,000-sf academic science building expands the university’s existing facilities to increase collaboration between science disciplines and regional partners, leveraging the school’s location at the mouth of the James River, where the 300-acre campus maintains a park-like setting with old growth forests and native wetlands in the middle of a dense, rapidly growing urban center.

Webster University’s new Browning Hall, Interdisciplinary Science Building, has transformed the university’s focus on science by tripling the number of science labs on campus. The 84,000-sf facility houses the departments of anthropology and sociology, biological sciences, international language and cultures, nurse anesthesia, nursing, and psychology, and the Institute for Human Rights & Humanitarian Studies.

Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) has received final approval from the Boston Public Health Commission to conduct research at Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4).  After years of scrutiny by regulatory agencies and city, state, and federal officials, the $200 million laboratory will now be able to work with approved BSL-4 pathogens such as Ebola and Marburg.

Oregon State University is building the $79.5 million Forest Science Complex in Corvallis. The 85,000-sf project includes construction of the 20,000-sf Advanced Wood Building Products Laboratory, which will feature high bay research space, robotic manufacturing systems, and a strong floor for full-scale product testing. Completion is expected in January of 2020. An academic building supporting programs in forestry, wood science, and renewable materials will also be constructed.