Yet more discussion about the future of coal at colleges in Missouri -- the latest round is at the University of Missouri at Columbia, where the power plant burns some 130,000 tons of coal a year. Coal Free Mizzou, a student group formed and influenced by the Sierra Club, is pressing the university to look for alternatives, reports The Maneater, the student newspaper.

The anticoal groups are opposed by others, like the College Republicans, who assert that environmentalists haven't presented viable, affordable alternatives to coal. Bruce Nilles, who directs the Sierra Club's anticoal campaign, responds that there are several good alternatives, and that the cost of running the coal plant can only go up.

In an editorial, The Maneater says the anticoal forces need to be "more realistic" about alternative power sources. "Sure, coal use is bad," it says. "Yeah, it's detrimental to the...

Campus architecture and facilities news from around the Web:

• Orange Coast College Tops Off New Science Building (left; Orange Coast College image)

• New School U. Officials Show Plans for 5th Ave. University Center

• Clemson U. Will Build Advanced Materials Center

• Mississippi State U. Renovates Home of ROTC Programs

The University of Nebraska at Lincoln is giving people an opportunity to propose uses for its Industrial Arts Building, a 97-year-old structure on the old state fairgrounds that preservationist fear will be demolished. The university says that if suitable plans for the building are not submitted before July 1, the building will indeed be razed. The university acquired the old fairgrounds last month to build a research park.

According to the Lincoln Journal Star, the building has slowly deteriorated over time. Costs of repairing the roof and stabilizing the structure are estimated at $2.4-million to $6.1-million. The cost of demolition is a point of debate: Harvey Perlman, the university's chancellor, puts it at about $375,000. Preservationists cite a figure of $1.5-million.

The building, which has been closed since 2004, does not fit into the plan for the research park and probably...

Campus architecture and facilities news from around the Web:

• Elgin Community College Swaps Building for Land, Breaks Ground for 2 Facilities (left: rendering of new library; Elgin Community College image)

• Snow Damage to Buildings and Grounds at U. of Virginia Is 'Widespread and Extensive'

• U. of Massachusetts at Boston Acquires 20-Acre Waterfront Parcel for $18.7-Million

• U. of Nebraska at Lincoln Seeks Uses for 97-Year-Old State Fair Building

Silver Spring, Md. — For a fairly small building, the new Performing Arts Center on Montgomery College's Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus here makes a big impression. Not only is it an architectural delight in a neighborhood of visual clutter, but it offers the college's theater, dance, and film students beautiful new facilities—and makes the spaces available to the community as well.

The $31-million, 57,234-square-foot building overlooks a busy intersection on Georgia Avenue a few blocks outside of the District of Columbia. It’s beside a parcel of land that the two-year college acquired a few years back when the Giant Food supermarket chain sold its bakery, which the college deftly converted into a visual-arts building. College officials saved the adjoining corner site, once occupied by an animal hospital, for the new performing-arts center. And they asked architects from the firm...

Campus architecture and facilities news from around the Web:

• Marshall U. Will Dedicate $9-Million Alumni Center Saturday (left; Marshall U. image)

• U. of New Hampshire Renovates 1920s James Hall

• Des Moines Architect Will Work With Steven Holl Firm on U. of Iowa Art Building

Madonna University, Livonia, Mich.

Building Type: Science

Construction Type: New

Cost: $18-million

Square Footage: 65,000

Architect: SmithGroup

Contractor: Clark's Construction Inc.

Opened: 2009

This facility, the university's first new building in 40 years, houses classrooms, teaching laboratories, faculty offices, seminar rooms, gathering areas for students, and digital TV and radio studios, along with video-editing suites and a 150-seat lecture hall. The building was designed to earn LEED certification, in part by incorporating a sedum-planted roof and by relying on natural light as much as possible.

(Photos: Jim Haefner Photography)

Does your institution have a new building or a recently completed renovation? Make sure it gets included in our campus-architecture database and our forthcoming Architecture issue.

Collin County Community College District, Plano, Tex.

Building Type: Academic

Construction Type: New

Cost: $30-million

Square Footage: 125,000

Architect: PBK Architects Inc.

Contractor: Lee Lewis Construction Inc.

Opened: 2010

At this facility, in McKinney, Tex., students can take courses from Collin County Community College as well as from five area universities—Dallas Baptist University, Texas A&M University at Commerce, Texas Woman’s University, the University of North Texas, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The five partner institutions  offer upper-division undergraduate courses as well as graduate-level courses. The facility houses the community college’s administrative offices and offers 24 classrooms, a student-service center, and a learning-resource center.

(Photos: Nick Young)

Does your institution have a new building ...

Spoon River College, Canton, Ill.

Building Type: Academic

Construction Type: Renovation

Cost: $2.3-million

Square Footage: 14,800

Architect: Hellmuth & Bicknese Architects

Contractor: Control Technology & Solutions

Opened: 2009

The college renovated part of its 81,000-square-foot facility in Macomb, Ill., to create space for a 4,500-square-foot conference center, two computer labs, and three general classrooms. As part of the project, a geothermal heating-and-cooling system was installed, along with new windows and a new roof.

(Photo: Brett Stoller)

Does your institution have a new building or a recently completed renovation? Make sure it gets included in our campus-architecture database and our forthcoming Architecture issue.

Campus architecture and facilities news from around the Web:

• Design-College Addition Earns LEED Platinum for Iowa State U. (left; Cameron Campbell photo)

• With $5-Million Donation, California Lutheran U. Will Build a Stadium

• Crow Infestation Leads to Worry and Power-Washing at Saint Louis U.