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
| Jan 23, 2014
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill-designed Federation of Korean Industries tower opens in Seoul [slideshow]
The 50-story tower features a unique, angled building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) exterior designed to maximize the amount of energy collected.
| Jan 23, 2014
Think you can recognize a metal building from the outside?
What looks like brick, stucco or wood on the outside could actually be a metal building. Metal is no longer easily detectable. It’s gotten sneakier visually. And a great example of that is the Madison Square retail center in Norman, Okla.
| Jan 23, 2014
3 fatal flaws your architecture firm has right now
After visiting over 200 architecture firms, I was aghast that so many of them were committing these costly sins of mismanagement and miscommunication, without even realizing it. If I can stop even one more firm from shooting its own foot, then this is worth it.
| Jan 22, 2014
SOM-designed University Center uses 'sky quads,' stacked staircases to promote chance encounters
The New School's vertical campus in Manhattan houses multiple functions, including labs, design studios, a library, and student residences, in a 16-story building.
| Jan 22, 2014
Architecture Billings Index sees first back-to-back decline since mid-2012
The AIA's Architecture Billings Index dipped for the second consecutive month in December—the first consecutive months of contraction since May and June of 2012.
| Jan 21, 2014
Comcast to build second Philadelphia skyscraper, with Norman Foster-designed tower [slideshow]
The British architect last week unveiled his scheme for the $1.2 billion, 59-story Comcast Innovation and Technology Center, planned adjacent to the Comcast Center.
| Jan 21, 2014
2013: The year of the super-tall skyscraper
Last year was the second-busiest ever in terms of 200-meter-plus building completions, with 73 towers, according to a report by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
| Jan 20, 2014
BUILDINGChicago/Greening the Heartland Conference 'call for 2014 educational proposals' is now open
The conference and exposition will take place September 29-October 1, 2014, at North America’s largest LEED Gold-certified hotel, the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza. Deadline for proposals is February 28, 2014.
| Jan 17, 2014
Crystal Bridges Museum will move Frank Lloyd Wright house from New Jersey to Arkansas
Numerous architectural experts have concluded that moving the Bachman Wilson House offers its best hope for long-term survival.
| Jan 17, 2014
Australian project transforms shipping containers into serene workplace
Australian firm Royal Wolf has put its money where its mouth is by creating an office facility out of shipping containers at its depot and fabrication center in Sunshine, Victoria.
