After an era of biology-oriented spending—largely driven by Big Pharma and government concerns about bioterrorism—climate change is reshaping priorities in science and technology construction. “Engineering and chemistry funding are going up now, as is energy research, which seems to continue to get federal funding,” says Andy Vazzano, FAIA, LEED AP, Science and Technology Practice Leader at SmithGroupJJR. “Meanwhile, the sequester and budget cuts are having a negative impact on NIH funding for biomedical research.”
The focus on human health hasn’t totally faded, with many research universities still building new labs—especially those that tie research to clinical practice. “Anything that begins with ‘trans’ or ‘inter’ is still a major trend,” says Ryan Abbott, Science and Technology Project Director at Sundt Construction and a BD+C “40 Under 40” honoree (Class of 2012). “Translational, interdisciplinary. Modern science is a team sport.”
TOP S&T SECTOR ARCHITECTURE FIRMS
2012 S+T Revenue ($)1 HDR Architecture $91,252,0002 Perkins+Will $48,373,5683 HOK $38,347,0004 Stantec $33,111,4695 SmithGroupJJR $26,400,0006 Flad Architects $21,480,0007 Payette $18,434,0298 ZGF Architects $16,214,2679 EwingCole $11,000,00010 FKP Architects $10,250,000
TOP S&T SECTOR ENGINEERING FIRMS
2012 S+T Revenue ($)1 Affiliated Engineers $19,824,0002 Middough $13,900,0003 URS Corp. $11,772,1244 Bard, Rao + Athanas Consulting Engineers $10,500,0005 RMF Engineering Design $9,200,0006 Vanderweil Engineers $7,851,9007 Paulus, Sokolowski and Sartor $7,500,0008 WSP USA $5,772,0959 Science Applications International Corp. $3,103,15210 STV $2,937,000
TOP S&T SECTOR CONSTRUCTION FIRMS
2012 S+T Revenue ($)1 Skanska USA $376,717,4742 DPR Construction $298,563,6423 Suffolk Construction $290,560,3074 Manhattan Construction $199,444,0005 Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., The $193,160,4256 JE Dunn Construction $184,799,0517 Clark Group $174,348,8048 Turner Corporation, The $157,490,0009 Structure Tone $143,798,00010 Consigli Construction $74,568,263
Though the purpose-built med school building is the iconic face of S+T, adaptive reuse is getting a second look for advantages in cost and speed. Many clients are also seeking higher levels of green; LEED Platinum, once thought impossible for labs, is no longer unique, and clients are increasingly eyeing net-zero.
In addition, look for public/private partnerships to assume a greater role, even in the rarefied atmosphere of the Ivy League. Harvard, for instance, has rethought its Allston science campus during a recession hiatus. When the site cranks up again next year, the program will include a 36-acre, privately developed “enterprise research campus” for related companies in pharma, biotech, and venture capital.
Read BD+C's full Giants 300 Report
Related Stories
| Oct 12, 2010
Guardian Building, Detroit, Mich.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Special Recognition. The relocation and consolidation of hundreds of employees from seven departments of Wayne County, Mich., into the historic Guardian Building in downtown Detroit is a refreshing tale of smart government planning and clever financial management that will benefit taxpayers in the economically distressed region for years to come.
| Oct 12, 2010
Richmond CenterStage, Richmond, Va.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Bronze Award. The Richmond CenterStage opened in 1928 in the Virginia capital as a grand movie palace named Loew’s Theatre. It was reinvented in 1983 as a performing arts center known as Carpenter Theatre and hobbled along until 2004, when the crumbling venue was mercifully shuttered.
| Oct 12, 2010
University of Toledo, Memorial Field House
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Memorial Field House, once the lovely Collegiate Gothic (ca. 1933) centerpiece (along with neighboring University Hall) of the University of Toledo campus, took its share of abuse after a new athletic arena made it redundant, in 1976. The ultimate insult occurred when the ROTC used it as a paintball venue.
| Oct 12, 2010
Owen Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Officials at Michigan State University’s East Lansing Campus were concerned that Owen Hall, a mid-20th-century residence facility, was no longer attracting much interest from its target audience, graduate and international students.
| Oct 12, 2010
Gartner Auditorium, Cleveland Museum of Art
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Gartner Auditorium was originally designed by Marcel Breuer and completed, in 1971, as part of his Education Wing at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Despite that lofty provenance, the Gartner was never a perfect music venue.
| Oct 12, 2010
Cell and Genome Sciences Building, Farmington, Conn.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Administrators at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington didn’t think much of the 1970s building they planned to turn into the school’s Cell and Genome Sciences Building. It’s not that the former toxicology research facility was in such terrible shape, but the 117,800-sf structure had almost no windows and its interior was dark and chopped up.
| Oct 12, 2010
The Watch Factory, Waltham, Mass.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards — Gold Award. When the Boston Watch Company opened its factory in 1854 on the banks of the Charles River in Waltham, Mass., the area was far enough away from the dust, dirt, and grime of Boston to safely assemble delicate watch parts.
| Oct 12, 2010
Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, Cleveland, Ohio
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Gold Award. The Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument was dedicated on the Fourth of July, 1894, to honor the memory of the more than 9,000 Cuyahoga County veterans of the Civil War.
| Oct 12, 2010
Building 13 Naval Station, Great Lakes, Ill.
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Gold Award. Designed by Chicago architect Jarvis Hunt and constructed in 1903, Building 13 is one of 39 structures within the Great Lakes Historic District at Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill.
| Oct 12, 2010
Full Steam Ahead for Sustainable Power Plant
An innovative restoration turns a historic but inoperable coal-burning steam plant into a modern, energy-efficient marvel at Duke University.
