Information Technology

The RAND Corporation transformed 10,000 sf of a Class A office building it leases in Alexandria, Va., from 100 percent closed, assigned offices and cubicles to nearly 100 percent unassigned seating, with glass walls throughout. The controversial pilot program has been an overwhelming success: An independent study found that the new design increases unplanned interactions among researchers and improved support for teamwork, while at the same time sustaining or improving the environment for deep concentration. It also increased space utilization by 30-35 percent. The original pilot space has been tripled, plans are in the works to convert more space this way, and RAND intends to implement this design for all new office space. Its success has been enabled by a wide range of IT solutions that RAND developed to support it.

Global Switch, a leading owner and operator of advanced data centers in Europe and Asia-Pacific, will implement modular construction methodologies in the delivery of its $209 million Singapore Woodlands facility. Gammon Construction, a joint venture of Balfour Beatty and Jardine Matheson, will precast 70 percent of the structure offsite, as well as using Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the delivery of the project.

Idaho National Laboratory and the Idaho State Board of Education broke ground in April of 2018 on two new research facilities in Idaho Falls. The 80,000-sf Cybercore Integration Center will provide advanced electronics labs where industry, government, and academic partners can engage in collaborative cybersecurity research. The 67,000-sf Collaborative Computing Center (C3) will feature a supercomputer for advanced simulation and modeling operations. The estimated construction cost of both facilities is $75 million.

The University of Leicester began construction in March of 2018 on an expansion of its existing student union building in the United Kingdom. Designed by Shepheard Epstein Hunter, the mixed-use project includes the addition of a four-story extension to the east wing which will house a large food court, social learning spaces, and an informatics labs to support programs in information science. A new façade and entrance will also be created to enhance campus connectivity.

Accenture is creating a 126,000-sf innovation hub in Salesforce Tower in San Francisco. Designed by Gensler to promote collaboration, the 126,000-sf leased facility features open offices and meeting areas arranged in neighborhoods to foster interaction. The project will support Accenture's technology, digital business, and consulting operations, and is one of ten innovation hubs that the company will open nationwide by late 2020.

NextCorps opened an entrepreneurship hub in Rochester in February of 2018. Located in the Sibley Square building, the project was created by the University of Rochester, the state of New York, and the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

The Hull McKnight Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center began construction in December of 2017 on a 165,000-sf technology incubator and workforce development facility in Augusta. Slated for completion in late 2018, the five-story project is supported by $35 million in state funding and represents the center's second phase of construction. A $60 million, 167,000-sf cybersecurity research facility is currently under construction at the site and completion is expected in July of 2018.

The Milwaukee School of Engineering will break ground in mid-2018 on the $34 million Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall in Milwaukee. Supporting programs in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and robotics, the 64,000-sf academic facility will provide classrooms, laboratories, an auditorium, a business incubator, and a data center housing a GPU-accelerated supercomputer. The Diercks Computational Science Hall is being designed by Uihlein/Wilson-Ramlow/Stein Architects.

Boston College is planning to build a $150 million science center in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Housing the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, the 150,000-sf facility will support programs in applied sciences, engineering, design, global public health, and computer and data sciences. Designed to promote innovation, the interdisciplinary building will feature makerspaces, research labs, a cleanroom, a collaboration commons, and technology-rich teaching labs for robotics, computing, and data visualization.

The College of New Jersey opened the $75 million STEM Building in October of 2017 in Ewing Township. Supporting programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the 89,000-sf facility houses the departments of biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, and computer science. Designed by EYP Architecture & Engineering to provide integrated teaching and research space, the multidisciplinary building offers classrooms, informal learning areas, a metal fabrication workshop, and a physiology lab.

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Mortenson Construction has developed an augmented reality (AR) mobile app to provide a digital representation of the new Computer Science and Engineering building (CSE2) under construction at the University of Washington in Seattle. By pointing a smartphone at the construction site, or at a printout of the site, users can experience an immersive virtual view of the main lobby, workroom, robotics lab, and offices. A preliminary version of the Mortenson AR/VR app is now available for download on iPhone and Android devices.

Virtual and augmented reality are bringing new learning experiences to today’s medical students—and their campuses. The building boom is part of a revolution in the way medicine is taught. Today, medical students often learn with sophisticated mannequins, computer models, and collaborative electronic projects. Now, some schools are taking the technology a step further, building immersive environments where the doctors, nurses, and dentists of tomorrow can experience real medical settings and explore human anatomy in three dimensions.

Today, doctors seldom work alone, and often work with technology, so the faculty at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas knew they wanted to make team-based learning a central part of their curriculum. They just needed a space to back up that plan. With a class of 240 students and an intense learning program, they realized their vision by creating a technology-rich space big enough to accommodate the entire class at once, and flexible enough to divide into smaller spaces when needed.

Carnegie Mellon University is partnering with Tata Consultancy Services to create TCS Hall in Pittsburgh. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the 48,000-sf joint facility will provide research labs, academic and administrative offices, instructional space, an innovation courtyard, and a robotics area. TCS Hall will support collaborative research in artificial intelligence, automation, data analytics, cybersecurity, robotics, and autonomous vehicles.