Clearwater High School, part the of Pinellas County School System in Clearwater, Fla., has officially begun a $48.5 million modernization project. The school was originally built in the 1950s, and the project will involve demolishing 17 buildings around campus, constructing seven new ones, and renovating five more.
KWK Architects recently completed a design and renovation project for the Washington University School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry at Renard Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. The 1950s-era hospital’s second, third, and fourth floors were renovated to centralize the department and provide office and teaching space.
Two Minneapolis contracting firms recently partnered to make some long-needed repairs to the University of Minnesota’s on-campus boathouse.
The Lyford Cay International Baccalaureate School, located in Nassau, The Bahamas, has opened its newest academic building to students. Designed by Cooper Robertson, the 35,000-square-foot Gateway Building will house 350 students from sixth through twelfth grade. The facility is also the first completed step—and the intended centerpiece—of a new 17-acre Upper School campus currently under development.
Sacred Heart University, located in Fairfield, Conn., has officially broken ground on the construction of a $70 million ice arena to be located in west campus. The arena continues a multiyear expansion program that aims to foster personal development, student growth, and student engagement, says SHU President John J. Petillo.
The Perry School Board of Perry, Iowa, is still accepting construction bids for its $10 million renovation project of Perry Middle School. Before the renovations can begin, the school is pursuing a month-long asbestos abatement project. School Board President Kyle Baxter attributes the reluctance of contractors to submit bids to the renovation project’s tight turnaround time once that abatement is finished.
North Carolina State University is partnering with KWK Architects and Jenkins-Peer Architects for Phase 4 of its five-phase Greek Village Master Plan. Infrastructure work is in progress for a new apartment building and two new townhouse units.
Burlington High School, located in Burlington, Vt., has reopened its doors—on a slightly unconventional new campus. After a whirlwind 10-week renovation process, the downtown Cherry Street building that formerly served as a Macy’s department store is now ready to welcome BHS students and faculty to their new home.
The Ann Arbor School Board in Ann Arbor, Mich., approved $63 million in funding for air conditioning and lighting renovations at 13 schools in the district, as well as contracts for future architectural and engineering projects.
Federal energy regulators have given Oregon State University permission to move forward with PacWave South, an offshore wave energy testing facility.
The Encore Theatre Company, a nonprofit theater group in Dexter, Mich., is raising money to renovate its new performance space—a historic school building downtown.
The school board of the New Trier High School Winnetka campus, located in Winnetka, Ill., has unanimously approved plans to construct a new gymnasium. The $75 million project involves demolishing the existing gym, which was built in 1928, and replacing it with a new, state-of-the-art facility better suited for the school’s current size and athletics programs.
Austin Independent School District (AISD) officials in Austin, Texas, spent last week walking through schools and surveying the aftermath of the recent wave of winter storms. The verdict: Ninety of the district’s 130 schools were affected, and the total damage is estimated at about $15 million.
One of the only remaining components of the $18 million Oakwood City Schools renovation project in Dayton, Ohio, is the installation of a brand-new HVAC system for the high school/junior high building. Currently, about half of the 97-year-old building is running on a new system, and the other half still uses an outdated, steam-heated network, according to school district Operations Coordinator Todd Scott.
Daytona State College’s Palm Coast campus is set to begin a $4.2-million renovation project that will allow it to expand its nursing program. The college has partnered with DLR Group and Charles Perry Partners, Inc., on the construction that will create teaching facilities to fit an additional 90 nursing students.
The University of Wisconsin-Platteville has received approval from the state to erect a 2.4-megawatt solar array on its campus. According to the university, this will be the largest solar array owned by a Wisconsin state agency and will make the campus the sixth-highest on-site producer of renewable energy in the country among institutions of higher education.
Faulkner University in Alabama is creating a new College of Health Sciences out of a former Burlington Coat Factory building. The work began last summer, after university President Mike Williams announced the planned conversion of a 13-acre shopping center and the empty Burlington building into a facility that would house all of Faulkner’s health science programs.
Ameresco, Inc. (a clean technology integrator focusing on renewable energy and energy efficiency) announced that it was chosen from a competitive process to provide its services to Nyack Public Schools in Orangetown, New York. The contract lays out an energy savings agreement over 18 years, including photovoltaic solar and guaranteed savings to the district across the full duration.
A project to reconsider how space was used for medical education that began six years ago is progressing at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. KWK Architects has repurposed a 7.8-acre industrial site and warehouse off-campus into new office space for the school.
Construction of a new solar project at New Mexico State University began this week. The university has partnered with El Paso Electric (EPE) on the initiative that they call Aggie Power, which should be sufficient to power about one-third of the 900-acre NMSU campus in Las Cruces.
The construction of Pinecrest Lakes Academy Middle/High School, a Florida charter school, is set to begin this year on the campus of Lake-Sumter State College in Clermont, Florida. The school is scheduled to open its doors to students in August 2022.
The University of Kentucky has revealed the plans for its new College of Design (CoD). The institution intends to renovate a century-old tobacco warehouse and turn it into a "vibrant and interactive learning space for design students." The design was done by Studio Gang, in collaboration with Louisville-based architect-of-record K. Norman Berry Associates (KNBA).
A high school next door to Yosemite National Park will be replacing seven portables that have been in use for "decades" with a new 6,000-square-foot, five-classroom building.
A California district has "topped off" its new multi-story, $67 million, 83,000-square-foot STEM school. The Los Alamitos Unified School District has laid the last piece of structural framing at the highest point of the building. The steel beam that was placed included handwritten messages, an American flag and an evergreen tree.
Oregon State University in Corvallis will be getting a new Arts and Education facility. The university's board of trustees recently approved construction of the $70 million complex, which will host performing arts classes, programs and performances on the campus in a 500-seat concert hall.
San Antonio College is funding construction of a new $13 million science building from a $83 million bond approved by county voters in 2017.
According to the university, the 133,000-square-foot building is intended to support advanced research and economic development initiatives with a design that emphasizes makerspaces, collaborative research facilities and flexible gathering areas.
A five-campus college in Scotland has distributed a new virtual desktop for its construction students to allow them to work on industry-grade software from home.
A $77 million project currently underway will provide affordable housing options for school employees who work for the Alameda school district.
The 14,000-square-foot renovation includes a construction science lab, manufacturing lab, automotive lab, art room, and computer science and robotics lab.