• U. of Nevada at Reno Opens $77-Million Center for Molecular Medicine (U. of Nevada at Reno photo)

• Western Carolina U. Plans a 35-Acre "Town Center" With Shops and Restaurants

• U. of Rhode Island Uncovers Long-Hidden 1940s Murals

• U. at Buffalo Gives a Quadrangle a $1.8-Million Model Makeover

• Champlain College Opens Welcome Center Incorporating Old Mansion (Champlain College photo by Stephen Mease)

• Water Use Increases at U. of Virginia, Despite Conservation

• Joliet Junior College Will Demolish 19th-Century Store for 10-Story Tower

• U. of Delaware Plans 850-Kilowatt Solar-Generating System

Brown U. is renovating a 1928 costume-jewelry factory to house its medical school. (Ellenzweig renderings)

Providence, R.I. — Brown University was looking for architects for an $80-million home for its Warren Alpert Medical School when the economy imploded two years ago, forcing the university to rethink its plans. Instead of putting up a new building on an empty lot in Providence's Jewelry District, the university decided to gut and renovate an existing structure it owned just across the street — a 1928 factory where the Brier Manufacturing Company once made costume jewelry with the brand name Little Nemo.

The change of plans brought some challenges. Tenants in the Little Nemo building, which had been commercial office space since 1972, had to be relocated. And Ellenzweig, the architecture firm that the university eventually hired, had to create an interior design that worked...

• Administration Building at Northwest Missouri State U. Is Added to National Register (Northwest Missouri State U. photo)

• New Fitness Facility at U. of Pennsylvania: "Athletes Love Being Down There"

• Western Kentucky U. Plans $35-Million Facility for College of Education and Behavioral Sciences

• 5-Building, 700-Bed Dorm Complex Is Under Construction at U. of Arizona

At long last, the Stata Center is getting a little respect. James S. Russell, an architecture writer for Bloomberg News, says in an essay published Tuesday that everyone he talked to about the oft-maligned building now thinks it's a success.

The Stata Center, the 720,000-square-foot computer-science building at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was designed by Gehry Partners and opened in 2004. In 2007, leaks and other problems with the high-profile, highly unusual structure were at the center of a lawsuit that MIT filed against the architecture firm and Skanska USA Building Inc., the contractor for the $300-million project. The lawsuit, Mr. Russell reports, was settled "amicably" this spring, though the terms of the settlement are secret.

"Gehry’s team," Mr. Russell says, "designed a building of laboratory 'neighborhoods' to support communities of researchers. At Stata,...

• U. of Utah Opens 91,000-Square-Foot Building for Geology (Frederick Albert Sutton Building photo courtesy of U. of Utah)

• S.C. Governor Calls for a Halt in New Construction on Campuses

• U. of Texas Regents Approve $800-Million Hospital Project in Dallas

• Wake Technical Community College Plans Sustainable Parking Facility

• 5 Construction Projects Are Under Way at Bowling Green State U.

• U. of Louisville Earns LEED Gold for Renovation of 1947 Duthie Center (Duthie Center for Engineering image by Thomas Watkins Photography)

• County Constructs Rain Gardens at Brookdale Community College to Protect a Reservoir

• Solar Panels Will Meet a Third of Bakersfield College's Power Needs

• U. of Georgia Will Return Historic Normal School Sundial to Original Location

• Southwest Tennessee Community College Breaks Ground for Nursing Building (Southwest Tennessee Community College rendering)

• Iowa State U. Reopens in Aftermath of Local Floods

• Green Buildings Improve Occupants' Health and Performance, Researchers Say

• Ball State U. Prepares to Open Center for Glass Art

• Lake Superior College Begins Building $12.1-Million Health and Science Center

Bob Elbert, the Iowa State U. photographer, posted images of flooding on the university's Facebook page. (Iowa State U. photo)

Iowa State University remained closed Thursday in the wake of what The Des Moines Register said was the worst flood in the history of Ames. A number of campus athletics facilities suffered damage, including the basketball arena and the football stadium. No one was reported injured on the campus, but the university was forced to shut down by the failure of the city's water system, which suffered a broken water main.

The flooding followed three days of rain that caused the Skunk River and Squaw Creek to overflow. Floodgates kept water out of many campus buildings, while university football players and others helped sandbag some low-lying facilities.

Once the water receded, the university's main concern was the Ames water system, which city officials said might...

• Ringling College of Art Earns LEED Gold for 2 Buildings (Academic Center photo courtesy of Ringling College of Art)

• Youngstown State U. Business School Shows Off $34.3-Million Home

• 'Grid Positive': Butte College Is Set to Produce More Electricity Than It Uses

• U. of Wisconsin at Milwaukee May Buy Hospital Site Adjacent to Campus