Research and Development

Santa Clara University will begin construction in fall of 2018 on the $275 million Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation in Santa Clara, Calif. Supporting STEM programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the multidisciplinary project will feature a 300,000-sf undergraduate teaching and research facility comprised of three wings. The center was designed by ZGF Architects to promote collaboration and will provide technology-rich laboratories, classrooms, and interaction areas.

Zymeworks opened a 10,000-sf biopharmaceutical laboratory in January of 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The facility will provide a centralized location for the company’s discovery research operations, including antibody generation, medicinal chemistry, bioconjugation, and the development of multifunctional proteins. Zymeworks is a producer of therapeutic agents for clinical-stage research on the treatment of cancer.

The State University of New York at Binghamton is constructing the $60 million School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in New York. Designed by The S/L/A/M Collaborative, the 105,000-sf building will provide sophisticated teaching and research labs, lecture halls, faculty offices, a library, and student activity space. Accommodating 240 students and approximately 36 faculty members, the four-story facility will feature interactive classrooms that can accommodate lectures as well as team-based learning activities.

Murray State University is building the $37 million Engineering Physics Building in Murray, Ky. Designed by Hastings+Chivetta with Research Facilities Design (RFD) as laboratory design consultant, the 72,500-sf undergraduate science facility will provide teaching and research labs for engineering, biology, chemistry, astronomy, electronics, and materials science.

The University of Windsor broke ground in January of 2017 on the $23 million Science Research and Innovation Centre in Ontario, Canada. The collaborative 46,000-sf facility will feature sophisticated laboratories for research and development in advanced materials, biomedical science, and automotive technologies. The project is being constructed by Amico Design Build with Colliers as project manager. Completion is expected in April of 2018. 

The University of Texas at Austin is building the $314 million Engineering Education and Research Center. Designed by Ennead Architects, the 433,000-sf facility will provide the Cockrell School of Engineering with multidisciplinary research labs, teaching labs, classrooms, meeting rooms, collaboration space, a central atrium, and a 299-seat auditorium. LEED Silver sustainable design certification will be sought for the project, which will feature the National Instruments Student Project Center, the Texas Instruments Laboratories, and the Innovation Center.

Ursinus College is constructing the 42,500-sf Innovation and Discovery Center in Collegeville, Pa. Designed by Ellenzweig, the collaborative, multidisciplinary facility will accommodate programs in science, policy, and entrepreneurship. The three-story structure will feature multifunctional teaching and research labs, a makerspace, interaction areas, and two TEAL classrooms. Connecting two existing buildings, the project will house the Parlee Center for Science and the Common Good and the U-Imagine Center for Integrative and Entrepreneurial Studies.

The Jackson Laboratory is building the $21 million Center for Biometric Analysis in Bar Harbor, Maine. Designed by Harriman Associates, the 21,000-sf facility will support the precision analysis of disease markers in research mice through advanced imaging and analytical technologies. PC Construction broke ground on the project in June of 2016 and completion is expected by January of 2018. The construction cost of the facility is $14 million. 

Tusculum College opened the $30 million Meen Center for Science and Mathematics in January of 2017 in Greenville, Tenn. Designed by John Fisher + Associates, the four-story, 100,000-sf facility provides teaching and research labs, classrooms, and lecture halls for programs in biology, chemistry, computer science, nursing, mathematics, and environmental science. Rentenbach Constructors began work on the project in May of 2015.

The University of Birmingham began construction in January of 2017 on the £40 million Collaborative Teaching Laboratory in the United Kingdom. Designed by Sheppard Robson, the two-story, 72,120-sf facility will accommodate STEM programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The interdisciplinary building will provide wet labs, dry labs, and an e-lab in a technology-rich environment supporting team-based education. The general contractor is Morgan Sindall and completion is expected in of 2019.

Penn Medicine and Novartis have joined forces to create the new Center for Advanced Cellular Therapies (CACT), located atop the Henry Jordan Medical Education Center at the Perelman School of Medicine. Dedicated to finding more effective treatments for cancer using personalized medicine, this first-of-its-kind facility forms the epicenter for research using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technology, which enables a patient’s T cells to be removed, reprogrammed, and re-infused into the patient, where they can “hunt” and destroy cancer cells.

Rolls-Royce will open a 33,000-sf research facility in March of 2017 in West Lafayette, Ind. Supporting collaboration with faculty and students from Purdue University, the center is located in a 55,000-sf building in the Purdue Research Park Aerospace District. The facility will accommodate the design, development, and testing of jet engine components, as well as research into alternative fuels. Construction was completed in December of 2016. 

After a one-year delay, Congress has passed the 21st Century Cures Act, which includes new funding totaling $4.8 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), $500 million for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to bring novel drug therapies and medical devices to market more quickly, and $1 billion to fight the growing opioid crisis. The NIH funding includes $1.8 billion for Vice President Joseph Biden’s “Cancer Moonshot,” $1.6 billion for President Obama’s BRAIN initiative, and additional money earmarked for precision medicine. The Cures Act funding is separate from, and in addition to, annual NIH budget increases. It comes on the heals of a $2 billion increase in NIH funding last year, the largest increase in a decade. If the trend continues, it could result in a need for additional research infrastructure in the form of renovations and new construction.

• Major Trends in Research Facility Planning and Design
• NIH Receives a $2 Billion Funding Boost
• The Next-Next Generation Workplace
• Intel Designs Next Generation Workplace for Recruitment and Retention
• Transforming Existing Spaces into Active Learning Classrooms  
• Future Proofing Vivarium Space Through Flexible Design
• University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s New Space Allocation System
• “Super Lab” Improves Student Learning, Challenges Faculty Adaptability
• Maker Spaces: The Bridge Between Higher Education and Industry
• UPenn Replaces the HVAC System of a Fully Occupied, Operational Chemistry Facility

Skidmore College is planning to build the $100 million Center for Integrated Sciences in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Designed by Payette, the 200,000-sf project will support programs in biology, chemistry, physics, neuroscience, psychology, geoscience, environmental science, mathematics, computer science, and health and exercise science.