Lockheed Martin opened the $50 million Research & Development II facility in Orlando in February of 2019. The six-story, 255,000-sf building offers collaborative offices and laboratories to support engineering, program management, and business operations for the company's Missiles and Fire Control division as well as the Rotary and Mission Systems division. The duration of construction was one year.
Rosalind Franklin University is building the $50 million Innovation and Research Park in North Chicago, Ill. The four-story, 100,000-sf facility will provide leading-edge research labs, business incubator space, meeting rooms, and common areas. The project will promote collaboration among faculty, industry scientists, and biotech entrepreneurs in order to accelerate the discovery and commercialization of new medical treatments and therapeutics.
Trine University is planning an $8.5 million expansion of Fawick Hall to house the School of Computing in Angola, Ind. Designed by Elevatus Architects, the project will accommodate new and existing programs in computer science, information technology, software engineering, cybersecurity, web development, and health informatics. The facility will provide a virtual reality and artificial intelligence lab, flexible classrooms with moveable walls, an active learning lab with a maker space, collaboration areas, faculty offices, and a café.
Autolus Therapeutics has signed a long-term, full-building lease with Alexandria Real Estate Equities for the construction and development of a build-to-suit facility in Rockville, Md. Located in the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center, the 85,000-sf project will accommodate the company's U.S. headquarters and a commercial-scale manufacturing center for cell therapies. Occupancy is expected in 2021.
Nagasaki University began construction in January of 2019 on a BSL-4 laboratory for the study of infectious diseases and pathogens in Japan. The $68 million biocontainment facility will support basic research to enable the development of innovative diagnosis, treatment, and prevention methods. The project is the first of its kind in the nation, although an existing BSL-4 lab at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Musashimurayama provides inspection and testing services. Research operations will begin at the Nagasaki facility in 2022.
Bulfinch began construction in January of 2019 on a 270,000-sf lab and office facility in Cambridge, Mass. Located at 400-500 Cambridge Discovery Park, the six-story building comprises two separate base structures that are physically connected on floors three through six. Offering 42,000-sf floorplates of open and efficient Class A facilities, the complex will include a fitness center, a café, and an adjacent 383-car parking garage. Floor-to-ceiling windows will provide abundant natural light with sophisticated building systems ensuring optimal energy efficiency.
Arizona State University is planning to construct a $64 million digital innovation campus in downtown Mesa. Designed by Holly Street Studio and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, the five-story, 118,000-sf project will provide galleries, theaters, production studios, fabrication labs, flexible classrooms, and a café.
In December 2016, Stony Brook Medical launched a plan to build housing for a pair of high-power MRIs, an older model 9.4-Tesla and a newer 7-Tesla. The original plan was to build a brick-and-mortar facility into their existing vivarium, but that was deemed too expensive, forcing them to consider other options. Glen Itzkowitz, dean of facilities and operations, and his team decided to pursue an option that had never been considered at Stony Brook—using pre-fabricated containers to house the MRIs, which they could just barely squeeze into a loading dock underneath a high-traffic footpath, space that was largely being wasted.
Louisiana Tech University is constructing the $40 million Integrated Engineering & Science Building in Ruston, La. Featuring flexible classrooms for project-based learning, the three-story, 130,000-sf facility will provide teaching and research labs, prototyping workshops, study rooms, faculty offices, and a glass atrium with a spiral staircase. Construction began on the project in April of 2016 and occupancy is expected in fall of 2019.
EMD Serono is planning to construct a $70 million R&D facility on its existing campus in Billerica, Mass. Supporting research programs in oncology, immuno-oncology, and immunology, the 145,000-sf building will accommodate wet labs, offices, collaboration spaces, and a cafeteria. Designed to attain LEED and WELL certification, the project will provide a healthy and sustainable environment for approximately 400 employees. Completion is expected in 2021. EMD Serono is the biopharmaceutical business of Merck KGaA, based in Darmstadt, Germany.
The University of Arkansas will begin construction in mid-2019 on the $10.3 million Civil Engineering Research and Education Center in Fayetteville. Designed by TreanorHL Architects and DEMX Architecture, the 37,400-sf project will offer sophisticated research spaces including a high-bay lab for the testing of structures and materials.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is planning to build a $33 million R&D facility for the creation of technologies for Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB) in Kamakura, Japan. The project will accelerate the company’s development, evaluation, and demonstration of ZEB technologies to meet the growing demand for buildings that combine comfort and superior energy savings. Mitsubishi Electric’s ZEB technologies are part of the company’s wide-ranging effort to help achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The University of Colorado broke ground in late January of 2019 on the $176 million Anschutz Health Sciences Building in Aurora. Designed by ZGF Architects and Anderson Mason Dale Architects, the seven-story, 390,00-sf facility will provide computational laboratories, classrooms, mental and behavioral health research clinics, a medical simulation training hub, faculty offices, and space for clinical trials.
The International Microbiome Centre (IMC) at the University of Calgary houses one of the largest germ-free facilities in the world and the only one that has incorporated intra-vital imaging. Constructed in a portion of the basement at the Cumming School of Medicine, the germ-free facility complements the other microbiome platforms—including mass cytometry, genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, bioinformatics, biobanking, and live cell imaging—by providing a model system in which to study the microbiome. The center provides a sterilized housing environment, where researchers explore the microbiome and its impact through adding bacteria to germ-free models and analyzing what those bacteria do to the animals’ immune systems, organs, and overall health.
Rice University is planning to renovate a former Sears building in Houston to create a 270,000-sf innovation center called The Ion. Providing event spaces, meeting rooms, and business incubation suites, the collaborative facility will support data science research initiatives and the development of new digital technologies. The complex, which will include dining and entertainment amenities, will host public programs including entrepreneurial workshops, networking sessions, training courses, and industry lectures.
