Category Archives: Shop Talk

October 26, 2012, 9:50 am

Hamilton U. has opened the Wellin Museum of Art, a 30,537-square-foot facility designed by Machado and Silvetti. The museum includes more than 6,000 square feet of gallery space, a teaching lab, and an open archives that lets the university store items from its collection where they can be seen. (Hamilton U. photo)

October 23, 2012, 2:32 pm

Shop Talk: Beloit Eyes Retired Power Plant for Recreation Center

By Lawrence Biemiller

• Los Angeles City Council Gives Go-Ahead for $1-Billion U. of Southern California Project With Housing, Retail, and Academic Facilities

• Indiana State U. Recycles 1935 Federal Building as Business College (Schmidt Associates photo)

• Lawsuit Delays Sale of Ranch Donated to Colorado State U., U. of Wyoming Foundations

• Harvard U. Releases University-Wide Sustainability Report

• Rutgers U. Renovates President’s House for $90,000

A retired Wisconsin Power and Light generating station on the Rock River could become a recreation and activity center for Beloit College, college officials say. The project, now in the feasibility-study stage, would require the college to raise $30-million and work with the utility on an environmental-remediation plan. The goal would be to create a 120,000-square-foot facility with an indoor track, a fitness center, and more….

October 19, 2012, 8:11 am

Shop Talk: SCI-Arc Faculty Compete to Design 1,200-Seat Pavilion

By Lawrence Biemiller

• Southern California Institute of Architecture Shows Off Competititon Plans for Outdoor Pavilion (SCIArch image of winning entry by Marcelo Spina and Georgina Huljich)

• Cornell U. Envisions Transforming New York’s Roosevelt Island

• George Washington U. Starts Work on 35,000-Square-Foot Museum for Art and Textiles

• Drexel U. Plans Center for Neighborhood Partnerships

Grove City College has opened a 16,500-square-foot building to house offices for chapel programs and student-ministry groups and to provide seminar and social space. The sandstone-sheathed building, designed by Archer & Buchanan Architecture, was designed to harmonize with the existing chapel, which with it shares a new lawn. (Tom Crane photo)

October 9, 2012, 3:48 pm

Shop Talk: Jersey Voters Will Decide Fate of $750-Million Bond Bill

By Lawrence Biemiller

• Coalition Backs Big Borrowing Measure, 1st in 24 Years, for New Jersey Colleges

• Golfers Jeer U. of Montana for Plans to Build on 9-Hole Course

• St. Leo U. Buys Benedictine Sisters’ Monastery for $3.9-Million

• RU Hungry? Because Rutgers U. May Move Its Food Trucks

The U. of Oregon is preparing to open the $65-million, 103,000-square-foot Lewis Integrative Science Building. The building, connected to others in the university’s science complex, features open labs, offices for faculty members and graduate students, and an atrium with a three-story whiteboard to encourage “cross-pollination,” university officials say. The building is designed to earn LEED platinum certification. (U. of Oregon photo)

October 2, 2012, 8:31 am

Shop Talk: Few Surprises in New Ranking of College Towns

By Lawrence Biemiller

• Boston, San Jose, Ann Arbor, and Ithaca Top Best-College-Town Lists

• Developer Proposes Housing U. of Oregon Students in 12-Story Tower

• Coastline Community College Opens New Campus in Newport Beach, Calif.

• As Corcoran Mulls Sale of Landmark Buildings, Preservation Fans Seek Protection for Interiors

The U. of Houston has opened the 2,300-space Stadium Parking Garage to serve faculty members, students, and fans attending events at Robertson Stadium and Hofheinz Pavilion. The new facility, designed by WHR Architects, also houses a store for fans, a mini market, and the university’s parking office. (WHR Architects photo)

October 1, 2012, 2:53 pm

Shop Talk: As Unions Shrink, Labor College Puts Campus Up for Sale

By Lawrence Biemiller

• Georgetown U., Montgomery College Contemplate Buying National Labor College’s Campus

• Colorado State U. Considers Building a $246-Million Stadium

• DePaul U. Mulls Moving Basketball Games to Arena in Downtown Chicago

• New Bronx Community College Library Includes 22 Paintings by ‘Brueghel of the Bronx’

Cal Poly Pomona has opened a three-building, $38.4-million complex for its College of Business Administration. The complex, located just north of the university’s landmark administration building, was designed by AC Martin Partners. (Cal Poly Pomona photo)

September 27, 2012, 1:13 pm

Shop Talk: New Vassar Science Building Will Bridge Campus Ravine

By Lawrence Biemiller

• Opponents Sue to Prevent New York U. Expansion in Greenwich Village

• At Long Last, Sonoma State U. Readies for Concert Hall’s Premiere

• Maryland Institute College of Art Completes $18-Million Renovation of Former Clothing Factory

• Robert Morris U. Opens 50,000-Square-Foot Building for Communications School

Vassar College science building rendering

Vassar College plans to start construction of an 80,000-square-foot science building next summer. The $125-million facility, designed by Ennead Architects, will take the form of a curving bridge over a campus ravine and a brook called the Fonteyn Kill. (Vassar College image)

September 26, 2012, 8:35 am

Shop Talk: Coral Researchers Get a Splashy New Research Facility

By Lawrence Biemiller

• New Saint Leo U. Dorm Complex Includes 2,100-Gallon Aquarium, Nap Pods

• U. of Washington Reopens Husky Union After 2-Year Renovation

• U. of District of Columbia Facilities Are Too Big for Stagnant Population, Report Says

• Showdown Looms Between Northwestern U. and Fans of Prentice Women’s Hospital

Coral Reef Research Center, Nova Southeastern U.

Nova Southeastern U. has opened a $50-million, 86,000-square-foot Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Ecosystem Research. The facility has 15 labs, open-air tanks for growing corals native to the area, and tanks in which conditions can be manipulated to mimic those where other kinds of grow. (Nova Southeastern U. photo)

September 17, 2012, 6:32 am

Shop Talk: Dartmouth Addition Creates a Trio of High-Profile Arts Buildings

By Lawrence Biemiller

• U. of British Columbia Opens $34-Million Energy Facility Fueled by Wood Chips

• U. of Massachusetts Board Signs Off on $3.1-Billion Construction, Renovation Plan

• UCLA Will Build Hotel and Conference Center on Campus, Though Local Businesses Object

• Architects Join Campaign to Save Iconic Building From Demolition by Northwestern U.

Dartmouth College Black Family Visual Arts Center

Dartmouth College has dedicated the 105,000-square-foot Black Family Visual Arts Center (right), by Machado and Silvetti Associates. Along with a new arts plaza (foreground), the visual-arts building creates an arts complex that also includes Wallace K. Harrison’s 1962 Hopkins Center for the Arts (left), which preceded his Lincoln Center in New York, and Charles Moore’s 1985 Hood Museum of Art (center), now in line for a renovation by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. The new building houses programs in studio art and film and …

September 6, 2012, 10:21 am

Shop Talk: Duke U. Cuts Water Use by 200 Million Gallons

By Lawrence Biemiller

• Even as Campus Expands, Duke U. Sees 30 Pct. Drop in Water Use

• James Madison U. Plans $57-Million Makeover of Recreation Center

• Texarkana, Ark., Welcomes New Branch of Hope Community College

• George Washington U. Has Lots of Room to Expand—on Campus in Virginia’s Loudon County

The U. of West Florida is preparing to dedicate a 36,000-square-foot education center for its College of Business. In addition to group-project rooms, meeting spaces, and offices for student organizations, the building has a three-story atrium, a cafe, and an advising center. (Sasaki Associates image)