Research and Development

The Children’s Research Institute (CRI), the research arm of Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., has seen its research programs expand, bringing the need to accommodate more staff and projects. A new innovation campus is in the works, but the move to the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center Campus will take four years to complete. The institute is therefore focusing on laboratory densification, both in the current space and the new campus.

Texas Tech University broke ground in September of 2019 on a $90 million complex for the School of Veterinary Medicine in Amarillo. Located at the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, the project includes construction of a two-story, 185,000-sf facility providing classrooms, research labs, surgical suites, anatomy labs, and pathology studios. A second building located at Mariposa Station will offer large animal housing facilities and a clinical skills training center.

ABB began construction in September of 2019 on a $150 million robotics hub in the Kangqiao district of Shanghai. Featuring advanced technologies for automated and digital manufacturing, the highly flexible facility will include an integrated R&D center to accelerate innovation in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Supporting direct collaboration with customers, the center will leverage sophisticated machine learning strategies to enable robots to construct automated and robotic systems tailored to specific client needs.

The University of Wyoming opened the $105 million Engineering Education and Research Building (EERB) in September of 2019 in Laramie. Designed by ZGF Architects to provide maximum flexibility, the 110,000-sf facility leverages drop-down utilities and services to create reconfigurable labs for collaborative teaching and research. The four-story project features the Student Innovation Center, a maker space with prototyping, fabrication, and 3D printing technologies.

The South Dakota Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (ADRDL) celebrated the opening of its expanded Brookings facility in September of 2019. The $58 million project included construction of an 81,000-sf addition offering 3,762 sf of biocontainment space which provides BSL-2E necropsy and BSL-3 facilities. A 4,000-sf chiller plant was also constructed. General contractor McCownGordon broke ground on the expansion in August of 2017. The lab's existing 55,000-sf facility will now undergo renovation and completion is expected in May of 2020.

Texas A&M University opened the $70 million headquarters of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) in September of 2019 in Bryan. Located on the RELLIS campus, the 190,000-sf facility provides advanced engineering research facilities for the creation of new transportation technologies and strategies for the optimization of infrastructure, construction materials, driver safety, and automated vehicles.

Northwestern University is continually working to grow and improve the quality of its research space inventory. A 2017 renovation and expansion of the Seeley G. Mudd Science and Engineering Library—situated in a prime location on the Evanston, Ill., campus—transformed a non-science building into a focal point of the university’s science complex. A desire to maximize research space within the constrained site resulted in a unique solution that leveraged both horizontal and vertical expansion.

BioMed Realty and the University of California, San Diego opened the $92 million Center for Novel Therapeutics in September of 2019. Located on the Science Research Park campus in San Diego, the 137,500-sf translational research facility enables investigators from the UCSD Moores Cancer Center to collaborate with pharmaceutical partners on the creation of innovative cancer treatments. The center also houses the city's first academic-industry drug discovery incubator.

Ball State University is constructing the $87.5 million Foundational Sciences Building in Muncie, Ind. Supporting STEM programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the 205,000-sf facility will provide 28 teaching labs, 44 research labs, six classrooms, collaboration spaces, conference rooms, faculty offices, computer labs, an imaging suite, and a research library. The five-story interdisciplinary building was designed by RATIO Architects to offer optimal flexibility and adaptability to accommodate changing programmatic needs.

The University of Warwick is planning to build the £54.3 million Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building in Coventry in the United Kingdom. Designed by Hawkins\Brown, the 75,000-sf facility will include flexible open labs for up to 300 researchers, a 400-seat lecture hall, a café, a large public entrance, and exhibition space. The five-story building will offer a central ‘lab village’ core, with offices and collaboration zones located on the perimeter to activate the façade.

Lafayette College opened the $75 million Rockwell Integrated Sciences Center in August of 2019 in Easton, Pa. Designed by Payette to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, the 103,000-sf facility houses the departments of biology, computer science, and environmental studies and science, as well as accommodating programs in neuroscience and engineering.

Pfizer is initiating a $500 million expansion of its Sanford campus with the construction of a 100,000-sf gene therapy facility. Supporting the creation of innovative treatments for genetic diseases, the project will feature advance manufacturing technologies for clinical and commercial-scale production of recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors. Accommodating 300 new employees, the facility will complement operations at the existing 628,000-sf Sanford complex and at the company's Chapel Hill and Kit Creek locations.

Changing needs for vivariums have presented facilities managers with an array of challenges: creating more space for housing research animals within existing facilities; ensuring that the environments in which animals are kept meet guidelines set by scientific research agencies and organizations; and ensuring the spaces in which researchers conduct their experiments host well-run vivariums that contribute to, rather than inhibit, the ability to reproduce their results. Manufacturers are responding to these needs with more space-efficient caging systems, more precise and cost-effective environmental controls for animal holding rooms, and technology that can automatically track the health of animals in cages.

The University of Lethbridge opened the CAD$280 million Science Commons in September of 2019 in Lethbridge, Alberta. Collocating the departments of biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, neuroscience, psychology, and physics and astronomy, the transdisciplinary building provides flexible teaching and research labs, academic classrooms, meeting rooms, gathering areas, and a central atrium. Designed by Stantec and KPMB, the 387,500-sf facility includes a community education venue with interactive science displays.

The Air Force Research Laboratory will break ground in fall of 2019 on the $12 million Open Innovation Campus in Rome, N.Y. Located at Griffiss International Airport, the facility is being constructed in partnership with SUNY Polytechnic Institute, The Griffiss Institute, and Oneida County. The project includes the renovation of a three-story, 40,000-sf building to create leading-edge research space for the study of artificial intelligence and quantum information science.