Economic recovery has been slow, and the overall higher ed market is still fairly flat, according to a 2013 report by consultant Paul Abramson, using data from Dun and Bradstreet (http://bit.ly/ZiM6cQ).
Nevertheless, better investment performance is improving the mood of donors and easing some of the pressure on endowments. “The market is beginning to open up, with pent-up demand pushing projects to get funded and into design and construction,” says Steve Rhoades, Associate Principal and Client Executive at KJWW Engineering Consultants.
Recruitment pressure has convinced some clients to green-light capital projects. “One of the key drivers of growth is the need for colleges and universities to stay more competitive in amenities: more luxurious dorms, state-of-the-art athletic facilities, technologically advanced classrooms,” says Thomas Goemaat, President and CEO of Shawmut. Goemaat says his firm has seen a “significant and sustained uptick” in academic work in New England and the Tri-State region of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
Large facilities that combine academic and medical objectives are capitalizing on the synergy between education, science, and clinical services. For instance, the University at Buffalo (N.Y.), whose UB2020 master plan has been simmering since 2004, will break ground this fall on its $375 million School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Building. At half a million square feet, the HOK-designed facility is the linchpin of UB’s plan to create a whole new Downtown Campus. The city will build a Metro station below the structure, and a children’s hospital (run by the nonprofit Kaleida Health) and privately owned medical office building will rise next door.
TOP UNIVERSITY ARCHITECTURE FIRMS
2012 University Revenue ($)1 Cannon Design $71,000,0002 Perkins+Will $49,726,5433 Stantec $36,704,0774 EYP $30,000,0005 SmithGroupJJR $25,600,0006 Gensler $22,140,0007 IBI Group $21,432,7128 Flad Architects $20,350,0009 Wight & Co. $18,072,20010 Sasaki Associates $16,865,404
TOP UNIVERSITY ENGINEERING FIRMS
2012 University Revenue ($)1 Affiliated Engineers $47,202,0002 URS Corp. $39,211,8523 AECOM Technology Corp. $33,000,0004 Buro Happold Consulting Engineers $28,695,0005 Burns & McDonnell $25,635,0006 STV $21,121,0007 Parsons Brinckerhoff $19,000,0008 Clark Nexsen $18,141,7909 Vanderweil Engineers $15,062,10010 KJWW Engineering Consultants $13,554,873
TOP UNIVERSITY CONSTRUCTION FIRMS
2012 University Revenue ($)1 Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., The $818,113,1402 Turner Corporation, The $701,340,0003 Skanska USA $437,058,2284 Structure Tone $354,907,9005 PCL Construction Enterprises $340,500,0756 Mortenson Construction $246,330,0007 Swinerton Builders $229,439,9508 DPR Construction $227,149,3779 Sundt Construction $225,748,51410 Austin Commercial $225,311,911
The partnership aspects of the UB project illustrate a trend toward creative public/private development. “There is a growing understanding that institutions can no longer afford to function independent of their host community—a change that has been driven in part by growing financial pressures,” says Mike Medici, AIA, Learning Practice Leader at SmithGroupJJR. “This is leading to an increase in community development partnerships as institutions seek to leverage their impact as ‘economic engines.’”
In Camden, N.J., Rowan University is finishing its $139 million Cooper Medical School education building—home of a new med school, the state’s first such project in more than 30 years. The curriculum emphasizes problem-based learning, with academic facilities tailored to group work plus hands-on simulations with robots and even a virtual reality CAVE. The project, designed by HDR, embodies higher ed’s current concern for programs that prepare students for a tough job market.
With thousands of traditional dorms still in use, the need for more modern residences also continues to generate work. Some responses have been dramatic, such as the 21-story Tree House just built by Suffolk Construction at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston. Amenities of the 493-bed apartment-style facility include a health center, café, and “Pajama Floor” where students can play games, watch TV, study, or work out while doing laundry. Hardin Construction (just acquired by DPR) recently delivered projects comprising nearly 2,000 beds for four academic clients in Georgia—all spurred by a desire to meet “modern consumer expectations,” according to Director of Higher Education Carlos Torres.
In another competitive strategy, some schools are replacing old-style student unions with recreation centers emphasizing wellness. Buildings may include student services offices, clinics, or classrooms for related subjects.
Auburn University at Montgomery (Ala.) positioned its 74,000-sf Wellness Center as a new front door for the entire campus. Constructed by BL Harbert International, the facility includes outdoor fields, two basketball courts, weight and cardio rooms, two multipurpose rooms, an aquatic center with outdoor spa, an indoor track, climbing wall, and juice bar, plus classrooms, lecture halls, and a lab for the Department of Physical Education and Exercise Science.
Finally, the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, now with 669 signatories, continues to influence construction. Some schools are eyeing net-zero and the Living Building Challenge for a variety of building types. And though central plants may not be glamorous, many clients now recognize the tantalizing ROI offered by improved infrastructure. In an extreme example, Rist-Frost-Shumway engineered a new 15,800-sf wood-biomass heating plant with cogeneration for Colby College in Waterville, Maine—a milestone in the school’s quest for carbon neutrality.
As in other sectors, energy performance of existing buildings is also becoming a high priority for higher ed. “The old piecemeal approach that advocates randomly adding sustainable applications won’t do the trick; more holistic building energy strategies are required,” says Vuk Vujovic, Director of Sustainable Design at Legat Architects.
Read BD+C's full Giants 300 Report
Related Stories
Sponsored | | Mar 25, 2014
Johns Hopkins chooses SLENDERWALL for a critical medical facility reconstruction
After decades of wear, the hand-laid brick envelope of the Johns Hopkins nine-story Nelson/Harvey inpatient facility began failing. SLENDERWALL met the requirements for renovation.
| Mar 25, 2014
World's tallest towers: Adrian Smith, Gordon Gill discuss designing Burj Khalifa, Kingdom Tower
The design duo discusses the founding of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architects and the design of the next world's tallest, Kingdom Tower, which will top the Burj Khalifa by as much as a kilometer.
| Mar 24, 2014
Shigeru Ban receives 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize
Shigeru Ban, a Tokyo-born, 56-year-old architect with offices in Tokyo, Paris, and New York, is rare in the field of architecture. He designs elegant, innovative work for private clients, and uses the same inventive and resourceful design approach for his extensive humanitarian efforts.
| Mar 24, 2014
Snøhetta unveils plans for serpentine mountain hotel
The winding hotel and apartment building will be built between the mountains and the sea in remote Glåpen, Norway.
| Mar 24, 2014
Frank Lloyd Wright's S.C. Johnson Research Tower to open to the public—32 years after closing
The 14-story tower, one of only two Wright-designed high-rises to be built, has been off limits to the public since its construction in 1950.
Sponsored | | Mar 21, 2014
Kameleon Color paint creates color-changing, iridescent exterior for Exploration Tower at Port Canaveral
Linetec finishes Firestone’s UNA-CLAD panels, achieving a one-of-a-kind, dynamic appearance with the first use of Valspar’s new Kameleon Color
| Mar 21, 2014
Forget wood skyscrapers - Check out these stunning bamboo high-rise concepts [slideshow]
The Singapore Bamboo Skyscraper competition invited design teams to explore the possibilities of using bamboo as the dominant material in a high-rise project for the Singapore skyline.
| Mar 21, 2014
Pier Carlo Bontempi to receive Richard H. Driehaus Prize from Notre Dame
Established in 2003 by the Notre Dame School of Architecture, the $200,000 Richard H. Driehaus Prize is awarded to a living architect whose work embodies the highest ideals of traditional and classical architecture in contemporary society, and creates a positive cultural, environmental and artistic impact.
| Mar 21, 2014
How to get more referrals
If you’re having a hard time attracting new referrals, here are a few techniques for increasing the number of interactions with potential clients.
| Mar 20, 2014
Common EIFS failures, and how to prevent them
Poor workmanship, impact damage, building movement, and incompatible or unsound substrate are among the major culprits of EIFS problems.
