Archinect - News

Looking at the potential for adaptive reuse in the St. Louis market with HOK’s Eli Hoisington

2024-02-08T12:38:00-05:00

Over the past two decades, St. Louis has gained recognition for its growing bioscience sector. In its 2030 STL Job Plan, Greater St. Louis Inc. identified bioscience (and related fields of agtech and life sciences) as critical to the continued success of our region. To continue to fuel research and innovation in this sector, St. Louis needs talent, capital and partner institutions. It also needs the right labs and buildings.

More and more universities and colleges are pursuing adaptive reuse projects of the kind Hoisington and his team at HOK’s local office completed recently for Washington University in St. Louis in the West End Cortex Innovation Community. As he described, the method is also an increasingly preferred solution for the biotech and life sciences industries. St. Louis has joined Dallas in competing with established hubs like Boston-Cambridge and Pittsburgh for a larger share of the market for both.

Looking to the future, studies have suggested the global markets for adaptive reuse and biotechnology to reach $47 billion and $1.3 trillion, respectively, USD by the end of this decade.

HOK has published a primer on adaptive reuse and laboratory design.

Foster + Partners releases Ellison Institute of Technology campus designs in Oxford

2023-10-16T17:09:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has unveiled renderings for a new scientific research and development facility design located in Oxford, UK.

The project to establish a new home for the eight-year-old Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) comprises a 30,000-square-meter (323,000-square-foot) central research laboratory, oncological wellness institute, and restoration of existing buildings. Its creation positions the institute, which also operates out of Los Angeles, for better collaborations with Oxford University and the city’s biotech and technology industries. The EIT says it will also aid with the launch of its new Ellison Scholars program, which was initiated earlier this year.

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

The scope of its design entails connecting the restored single-volume Littlemore House to new pavilions located at the easternmost edge of the site in order to create a larger C-shape footprint surrounding a landscaped courtyard that’s built over a sunken 200-seat auditorium and culminat...

NYC announces $1.6 billion life sciences campus development in Manhattan

2022-10-18T17:29:00-04:00

New York City has announced its plans for a new $1.6 billion life sciences campus to be located on the east side of Manhattan and administered in partnership with the City University of New York (CUNY).

SOM has been attached as the project lead for the SPARC Kips Bay development, which will transform the Brookdale Campus of Hunter College into a 1.5-million-square foot center for research, entrepreneurship, and education geared at local economic benefits and training young New Yorkers for careers in tech and the health sciences.

According to a press release, the project’s scope includes:

NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue ambulatory care center.
NYC Health + Hospitals simulation training center.
DOE high school with a special focus on preparations for healthcare and other STEM careers.
A new Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) Forensic Pathology Center that will be a "nation-leading training facility for forensic pathologists."
Commercial office and laboratory space for the life scienc...

Mass timber, clean energy, biotech, and Indigenous communities are among the biggest winners of the $1 Billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge

2022-09-02T17:17:00-04:00

The Biden Administration has announced 21 winners of its $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge funded through last year’s American Rescue Plan and administered by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA).

Five-year capital grants ranging between $25 million and $65 million were awarded to transformative projects in 24 different states with demonstrated potential to rebuild regional economies, promote inclusive and equitable recovery, and create jobs.

The Brookings Institution today commented that the funding “represents a critical test for key assumptions of the broader Biden administration economic framework” and said it will critically deliver infrastructure investments with a mind for integrating marginalized groups and communities into the post-pandemic economic recovery nationwide. A survey of the projects seems to signal an interest in things like clean energy, advanced and next-gen manufacturing, biotechnologies, and a host of others...

A living breathing building: How biology and architecture will change construction and the built environment

2019-07-24T12:53:00-04:00

The institutions have been jointly awarded £8m from Research England’s Expanding Excellence in England fund to establish the world’s first research Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment (HBBE). It will lead to a whole new concept of the way we design and construct our buildings.

Maybe buildings of the future don't need to be AI filled structures face mapping our every move. Perhaps they need to be self-sustainable and responsive structures infused with a bit of biology. Architecture author, lecturer, and researcher Dr. Martyn Dade-Robertson shares new discoveries diving into these possibilities. Along with his colleagues at Newcastle and Northumbria Universities Dade-Robertson comments on his excitement towards the project in a recent university press release. "This is an incredibly exciting opportunity to create a new field of research. By bringing together architects, engineers, and bio-scientists, working with industry and investing in state-of-the-art facilities, we are aiming to rethink the building industry."

With the hopes to address changes and better construction practices, the team aims to create a brand new system of "Living Buildings." This collaboration of bio-scientists, architects, and engineers will open new doors for experimental biological...