Research and Development

The University of Wisconsin-Madison will dedicate the $75.7 million Wisconsin Energy Institute (WEI) on April 5, 2013. Designed by HOK with Potter Lawson as architect of record, the 100,000-sf facility provides wet and dry labs, offices, imaging suites, high bay space, and conference rooms for collaborative research on advanced fuels, renewable energy, and energy storage systems. Ground was broken on the multidisciplinary building in November of 2010 and the project was built by M.A. Mortensen.

Lawrence Technological University is planning to build the $55 million A. Alfred Taubman Engineering, Life Sciences, and Architecture Complex in Southfield, Mich. Designed by Morphosis with Albert Kahn as architect of record, the 125,000-sf TESLA facility will be built in two phases. The first 30,000-sf phase will provide multidisciplinary collaboration space and laboratories for science, biomedical engineering, and robotics. The second phase includes a three-story building housing two floors of classrooms and labs.

The Performance Guaranteed Facility (PGF) model is a relatively new type of public/private partnership that allows the occupants to own a building the moment construction begins, while private-sector partners commit to its design, construction, financing, and ongoing maintenance, including future rehabilitation. The model goes by different names, but the concept involves an interactive partnership designed to benefit all parties for the long term.

The University of Wyoming broke ground in March of 2013 on the Michael B. Enzi STEM Facility in Laramie. The 100,000-sf facility will provide 32 teaching labs for chemistry, biology, organic chemistry, physics, mathematics, and computer science. The building will also include eight prep rooms, eight offices, and an atmospheric sciences lab to support collaborative research with the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center in Cheyenne. Completion is expected in spring of 2015.

Saint Vincent College opened the $39 million Sis and Herman Dupré Science Pavilion in March of 2013 in Latrobe, Pa. Housing the Herbert W. Boyer School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computing, the 102,000-gsf facility provides classrooms, lecture halls, instrumentation suites, offices, conference rooms, and labs for chemistry, biology, physics, and life sciences. The center was designed by Maclachlan, Cornelius & Filoni with RFD (Research Facilities Design) as laboratory design consultant.

Louisiana State University opened the John Franks Equine and Large Animal Isolation Unit in Baton Rouge in March of 2013. Located at the school's Veterinary Teaching Hospital, the 11,000-sf facility provides eight stalls with separate patient care areas and advanced audiovisual monitoring systems. The building also includes exam rooms, procedural space, a diagnostic imaging suite, foaling stalls, and stalls with sling and hoist capabilities. The facility features a robust ventilation system for the containment of airborne diseases.

The University of Edinburgh began building the National Avian Research Facility in early 2013. The $22 million research laboratory represents a partnership of the Roslin Institute of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and The Pirbright Institute. The facility will include specific-pathogen-free (SPF) areas for research with genetically modified poultry. Completion is expected in late 2014.

Pfizer broke ground on a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility near Thuwal in Saudi Arabia in March of 2013. Located in King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), the 347,000-sf plant will produce 18 million packs per year. The facility will become fully operational in 2015.

The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research is a pioneering research facility that brings together biologists working to understand the disease at a molecular level and engineering faculty devoted to solving problems related to cancer. The ultimate goal is to accelerate the discovery of cures for cancer.

India's National Institute of Virology has completed the Maximum Containment Laboratory in Pune. Established by the Indian Council of Medical Research, the BSL-4 facility is located in the existing Maximum Containment Facility and meets the biocontainment guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. The Maximum Containment Laboratory is comprised of two suites, each providing a main lab and two animal labs. The secure facility includes a gamma radiation lab for sample processing and a training area.

Diamond Light Source, the United Kingdom's national synchrotron facility, opened the Crystal biocontainment imaging laboratory in February of 2013 in Oxford. The containment level three (CL3) facility supports the analysis of viruses and infectious diseases at the atomic and molecular level using synchrotron light.

Queen’s University began building the $51 million Centre for Experimental Medicine in March of 2013 in Belfast. Located in the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology on the Institute of Health Sciences campus, the four-story, 97,000-sf facility will provide advanced laboratories for biomedical research with a focus on diabetes, eye disease, and genetic illnesses.

Sandia National Laboratories opened two new research facilities in the Albuquerque Science and Technology Park in February of 2013. The Cyber Engineering Research Institute (CERI) and the Cyber Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) are housed in a 23,000-sf facility accommodating 100 researchers and staff. CERL includes an innovation lab, a research center, and a human performance lab. CERI provides dry laboratories for cybernetics research.

The University of Texas Pan American is planning to build a $96 million science facility in Edinburg, Texas. The 162,600-sf annex will accommodate programs in biology, chemistry, engineering, physics, geology, mathematics, health sciences, technology, and environmental studies. The project will provide two BSL-3 labs and five specialized research suites for imaging, tissue culture, instrumentation, radioisotopes, and an herbarium.

Tufts University began building the Arnold 8 Biosafety Laboratory in February of 2013. Located in an existing building on the School of Medicine campus in Boston, the BSL-3 facility will support research on tuberculosis. The laboratory is being built by Shawmut Design & Construction.