Research and Development

The University of Arkansas opened the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation in August of 2025 in Fayetteville. Designed by Grafton Architects and Modus Studio, the 44,763-sf facility will enable the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design to advance the discovery and development of innovative timber construction modalities. The six-story development features an 11,000-sf high bay zone for fabrication and design-build activities, connected to teaching spaces above by a central atrium.

The University of Arkansas opened the Institute for Integrative & Innovative Research (I³R) in August of 2025 on its Fayetteville campus. Designed by HGA and Hufft, the $137.6 million facility will accelerate cross-disciplinary research to foster convergence across the public and private sectors and address pressing problems in domains such as medicine, food systems, and cyber technologies. The 144,000-sf building accommodates five wings.

The University of California, San Francisco began construction in August of 2025 on the Life Sciences Building located in the Dogpatch Power Station redevelopment. Designed by Herzog & de Mueron and Stantec, the transformative facility will drive bioscience innovation by bringing together research, best-in-class patient care, and graduate-level training with venues for new biomedical companies.

Brown University is constructing the William A. and Ami Kuan Danoff Laboratories in Providence’s Jewelry District to support integrated life sciences research. The 300,000-sf facility was designed by TenBerke and Ballinger to catalyze innovation and the commercialization of impactful scientific and medical breakthroughs. The seven-story building will provide six levels of wet and dry laboratories and research cores for programs in biology, medicine, neuroscience, bioengineering, and public health.

Southern Research opened a $98 million biotechnology center in August of 2025 in Birmingham, Alabama. Designed by HOK and Williams Blackstock Architects, the 150,000-sf building will advance research crucial to human health and address pressing biomedical threats. The five-level structure features BSL-3 laboratories spanning 7,500 sf that provide essential biocontainment capacity for the study of infectious diseases.

Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) broke ground on an academic and research building for the physical sciences in July of 2025 in the Netherlands. The dynamic facility will colocate departments from the Faculty of the Applied Sciences on the college’s south campus and stimulate excellence in education, discovery, and collaboration.

Masaryk University (MU) is constructing the MUNI BioPharma Hub to drive excellence in research, education, and innovation in Brno in the Czech Republic. Offering three underground levels and six stories above grade, the 163,504-sf project was designed by Pelčák a partner architekti to combine leading-edge scientific infrastructure with modern academic venues. 

Designing and building labs in the unlikely and constrained location of the prestigious Pacific Design Center (PDC) with Hollywood as a backdrop is a daunting task, requiring adherence to quality expectations, facilities management guidelines in a non-research environment, separation from existing high-end tenants, and compliance with infrastructure requirements. Cedars-Sinai, one of the largest nonprofit medical centers in the U.S., accepted the challenge after deciding to expand its research portfolio. Growing beyond its limited campus is necessary to accommodate the rapid growth of its research facilities and to aid in recruiting top scientists by providing innovative facilities with optimum resources. Hospital officials looked a half mile from their campus to the PDC, a designated cultural resource building complex designed by Cesar Pelli in the 1970s. Known in the 1980s and 1990s as a vibrant hub of premier art, design, and architectural showrooms, many of the tenants now have online shops rather than physical space in the cluster of buildings, leaving vacancies available for lease and an opportunity for Cedars-Sinai’s growth.

Savannah River National Laboratory opened the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative (AMC) in August of 2025 on the campus of the University of South Carolina Aiken.

SJP Properties broke ground in July of 2025 on a state-of-the-art R&D headquarters for Nokia Bell Labs in the Health & Life Science Exchange (HELIX) district in New Brunswick. The 370,000-sf tower features a build-to-suit design, with leading-edge environments and building systems tailored for precise functions within Nokia Bell Labs’ innovation and research operations. Office settings will be accompanied by sophisticated laboratories integrating robust strategies for vibration mitigation.

The University of Illinois at Chicago opened the $118 million Computer Design Research and Learning Center in July 2025. Designed by LMN Architects and Booth Hansen as an expanded and consolidated home for the Department of Computer Science, the 135,000-sf facility will drive groundbreaking research and provide world-class training opportunities for graduates entering high-tech and engineering careers.

In the span of 16 months, Seattle’s Fred Hutch Cancer Center formulated and implemented a space realignment initiative that divested 30,000 sf of leased space, generated $2 million in savings and another $2 million in cost avoidance, and impacted approximately 1,400 people, 20% of its 7,000-member workforce.

Delta Electronics is planning to construct a regional headquarters in Hoofdorp in the Netherlands as part of a strategic expansion into Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Located at the Park 20|20 business campus, the €42.26m ($48.72m) building will add 100,100 sf of modern office space for over 350 employees engaged in R&D, business development, and other departments.

GenesisM, a joint venture between Bain Capital and Botanic Properties, broke ground on a Class A biomanufacturing facility in July of 2025 in Bedford, Mass. Designed by Perkins&Will, the sophisticated development addresses a critical need for purpose-built life sciences infrastructure in the Greater Boston region.

The University of California, San Diego opened the $152 million Viterbi Family Vision Research Center in June of 2025 at the Shiley Eye Institute in La Jolla, Calif. The 100,000-sf facility was designed by NBBJ to foster interdisciplinary collaboration with wet and dry laboratories, clinical trial suites, educational facilities, and a vivarium. Supporting leading-edge research, the five-story structure will drive advances in the treatment of ophthalmologic diseases and prepare the next generation of clinician-scientists for the workforce.