Reclaiming Rec Space
For decades, multipurpose gymnasiums at elementary schools and high schools have served as the heart of the educational facility, often providing space for not only physical education, but for such diverse functions as a cafeteria, gathering area, and a stage for school performances.
Increasingly, school officials are realizing the benefit of having individual rooms to better serve these functions.
Architectural firm Wight & Co., of Darien, Ill., has provided redesign solutions for the outdated gyms of several Chicago-area schools.
Read More Detroit District Issues $210 Million in Capital Bonds
DETROIT — Detroit Public Schools issued more than $210 million in capital improvement bonds needed to move forward on a $500.5 million district-wide construction and renovation program.
The sale included $160.9 million in Qualified School Construction Bonds and $49.6 million in Build America Bonds, both of which were authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, according to reports.
The funds will support the district’s three-year capital improvement plan, which will close dozens of schools a
Read More St. Paul College Plans Expansion of Arts Center
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Private liberal arts university Macalester College approved a $40 million plan to renovate and expand its Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center. Earlier this week, Macalester’s board of trustees signed off on the project, which is expected to begin in January of next year and wrap up in July 2012.
Funded largely by private donations, the expansion will build new art history classes, an art gallery, commons areas, faculty offices, and new ensemble rehearsal rooms onto the fine arts center.
Read More NYU to Open Campus in D.C.
WASHINGTON — Contractors broke ground on a 12-story, 75,000-square-foot mixed-use building in for New York University’s first satellite campus in Washington, D.C., providing students a domestic option to studying abroad.
The Constance Milstein and Family Academic Center, which the Washington-based Hickok Cole Architects designed, will include space for classrooms and seminar rooms, a 200-seat auditorium, support staff, lobbyists, and five floors of student dormitories.
Read More Going Grid-Positive
OROVILLE, Calif. — Butte Community College is hoping to be grid-positive by next spring after investing upwards of $34 million into solar energy projects over the previous seven years, adding about 25,000 panels to the campus.
Calif., N.J. Schools See Construction Funding Boost
Sacramento, Calif. — State education agencies in California and New Jersey were recently awarded more than $675 million in school construction funds.
In Sacramento, the State Allocation Board announced that it has allocated $408 million in matching funds for 78 shovel-ready school construction projects in 42 school districts. These projects are expected to create more than 7,000 new jobs.
San Diego District to Start Construction of Solar Projects
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Unified School District is set to begin construction this fall on a 23,000-panel solar array located on top of 80-plus rooftops at 20 sites district-wide.
Read More University of Missouri Opens New Student Union
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The University of Missouri-Kansas City recently opened a new $38.3 million, 109,000-square-foot Student Union building. Design firm Gould Evans and builder McCownGordon Construction, both of Kansas City, collaborated to complete the design-build project on a 17-month accelerated timeline.
Inside the student fee-funded building are a 329-seat theater, three-story daylit atrium, bookstore, coffee house, kitchen and dining facilities, and offices for student organizations.
Read More U-Conn Trustees Approve Basketball Practice Facility
STORRS, Conn. — The University of Connecticut’s Board of Trustees have approved spending $3 million in private donations to design a new basketball practice facility, slated for a site behind the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, the home of the Huskies’ men’s and women’s basketball teams.
The project, which has been in the works for several years, has a budget of approximately $25 million, according to the university’s athletics director, Jeff Hathaway.
Read More Dallas Firm Awarded $40 Million Contract
LEWISVILLE, Texas — The Lewisville Independent School District selected Dallas-based Charter Builders as construction manager at-risk for a $40 million renovation and expansion project at Lewisville High School. SHW Group, also of Dallas, is the architectural firm designing the expansion, which is slated to last through August 2012.