WASHINGTON, D.C.—While the world-renowned Johns Hopkins is based in Baltimore, the respected institution of higher learning has opened a new facility just 35 miles south in the nation’s capital. Key players on the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center—located at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, just off the National Mall—included architect of record SmithGroup, construction manager Clark Construction, project management and owners’ representation firm MGAC, exterior architect Ennead Architects and interior architect Rockwell Group.

All of the D.C.-based graduate studies for the university will take place in the Bloomberg Center. The 435,000-square-foot Bloomberg Center houses the School of Advanced International Studies, Carey Business School, as well as the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

The Bloomberg Center exists inside the site of the former Newseum, which closed at the end of 2019. The space has now been transformed to host 38 classrooms, a 375-seat theater, study spaces, lounges, and terraces overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue and the nearby Capitol. The Bloomberg Center also hosts a coffee shop, fitness center and library.

The unique design for the building entails two cantilevered floating classrooms that hang from trusses. The classroom space allows for extensive views of the facility’s main atrium space. Other amenities include an open meeting space, dubbed “The Beach,” for students and staff to congregate and chat in between classes. The Beach is named in honor of a greenspace at Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus, located near central Baltimore.

The designers incorporated Tennessee Pink marble in the facade, which matches other famous buildings nearby such as the National Portrait Gallery, the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, as well as the Smithsonian along the Mall. The architects aimed to achieve LEED Silver Certification.

“The Hopkins Bloomberg Center is a new landmark facility for Johns Hopkins University,” said MGAC Project Manager Vincent McLaughlin. “We are pleased to deliver a building that will contribute to the cultural and academic landscape of Washington, D.C.”

“Converting the Hopkins Bloomberg Center from a museum into a modern education facility to support Johns Hopkins University’s programs has been an exciting challenge,” said Amy Mercurio, associate vice president of capital projects for Johns Hopkins University. “We have greatly benefited from having the original building’s architects and engineers on our team.”

MGAC was hired in 2019 to provide project management support and cost management services.

“The dedication and technical experience of the team members involved in the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center project made it possible to navigate any obstacles,” Sarah Eynon, MGAC’s senior director, said in a statement emailed to School Construction News. “Their technical expertise and commitment resulted in a remarkable overhaul of the building, creating a collaborative workspace that truly reflects the progressive ethos of a forward-thinking University.”

MGAC’s services include cost and project management, technological solutions, FF&E procurement and relocation management.

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FLINT, Mich.—Stantec, a global leader in sustainable design, was selected to provide architectural and interior design services for the recently unveiled Learning Commons at Kettering University, located in Flint. The new Learning Commons complements the unique Kettering curriculum with a facility that is focused on collaboration, ideation and digital technology.

The new 105,000-square-foot Learning Commons incorporates building systems that speak to the permanence and longevity of the institution while offering durability for the decades ahead. The four-story design features an open-air atrium, and a skylight that fills the entire interior space with natural light. The first and second floors feature public gathering, dining, and collaborative spaces, focused on creating dynamic social spaces for students. The third and fourth floors consist of additional collaborative spaces and environments for research, student support, media resources, individual focus, and group project work.

Other exciting elements of the new Learning Commons include a digital library, a 200-seat multi-media auditorium, dining facilities, outdoor patios and rooftop terraces, and an overnight suite for guest professors and lecturers.

The new Learning Commons features more than a dozen ”D-Spaces.” These spaces serve as collaborative study and team rooms that provide comfortable and functional seating for students, faculty, and staff along with digital and analog work tools. There are two Knowledge Bars hosting an entirely digital library, which holds over 900,000 e-books, 100,000 e-journals, and 100+ databases. Other amenities include a 1,600-square-foot roof-top garden designed to reduce run-off and lower temperatures on its surface and the surrounding area.

The Stantec team focused on giving the new facility a timeless and elegant design. The interior has been strategically designed to provide optimum flexibility, with power and technology woven throughout. The building can easily transform to meet the needs of students and faculty, while also allowing for easy adaptability to future programs or space reconfigurations.

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LONG BEACH, Calif.—General contractor Clark Construction has finished a pair of educational projects at the Cal State Long Beach campus, located in Southern California about 30 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.

One effort was to expand the college’s art institute, which was formerly known as the University Art Museum but will be known hereafter as the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum. According to a recent release from Clark, the expansion doubles the museum’s total exhibition space to 4,000 square feet. The addition features a 15-foot, diamond-shaped glass vestibule at the redesigned museum entrance.

In total, the museum is now 11,000 square feet in area, and offers modern education facilities, galleries with moveable walls, outdoor gardens and storage facilities. Solar panels and sustainable construction materials used throughout were intended to help the museum win LEED Silver certification.

The reimagined museum is scheduled to open this month to visitors.

Clark’s other project at CSULB entailed renovating the Horn Center, which used to be a computer lab and student advising facility and morphing it into state-of-the-art classrooms and lecture halls. The Horn Center is now one of the largest computer labs across the entire CSU system.

Both the Horn Center and Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum were completed on the requisite 17-month schedule. The jobs represent some 100,000 hours of labor for local craftspeople.

Pfeiffer Partner Architects reportedly led the design for the projects.

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EAST LANSING, Mich.— The opening of the new Edward J. Minskoff Pavilion at Michigan State University was celebrated in late September.

The three-story building spans 100,000 square feet that transforms the Eli Broad College of Business into a unified complex that combines modern teaching facilities with contemporary social spaces. Technology integration, classrooms and flexible spaces promote academic and professional excellence

LMN Architects was the architect on this approximately $62-million project that was designed in collaboration with FTCH, OLIN and Clark Construction.

Said LMN Architects Partner Rafael Viñoly-Menendez, “From our first conversations on the project, Dean Gupta expressed a clear vision for the building: a place that would not only foster learning, collaboration and engagement with alumni and the business community, but also a facility that would weave the existing spaces to create a more cohesive “campus within a campus.’ He was equally inspired by the opportunity to connect the interior spaces to nature as an essential element of the student’s well-being. And, above all, the building needed to welcome all students and not be perceived as exclusively a benefit to the business school.”

The building is located within the heart of the university along the Red Cedar River. A central communal atrium is framed by two program “bars” that focus views through the building to the river and landscape beyond. Classrooms, student services and administrative spaces are dispersed through all levels and are arranged around this central social space.

“The atrium was designed to be the ‘heart’ of the Broad College of Business, the place where students can gather, as individuals and a community, to share experiences,” said Viñoly-Menendez.

The atrium provides a new hub for Broad College to host college-wide events, recruitment fairs, informal gatherings and team collaboration, search for drugs. Circulation balconies overlooking the atrium lead to flat/flexible and tiered/case study classrooms for discussions, technology-enabled active learning and networking. A central feature of the atrium are generous amphitheater stairs. The pavilion’s masonry, glass, and metal exterior express the contemporary functionality surrounding campus architecture.

“The Minskoff Pavilion is unlike any other project the university has seen and represents the next phase of higher education,” said Dean Gupta.

“We placed an intentional emphasis on the pavilion’s architecture and classroom designs to enhance the experience that each student will have. Broad Spartans have a new building on campus where they can unleash their creativity and benefit from a space that is focused on collaboration and teamwork.”

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Construction of the NTPLLN will strive to meet campus sustainability goals with the project aiming to achieve  LEED Platinum, according to a statement. Landscape design will be sustainably focused as well, with an emphasis on drought tolerance.

Spreading across more than 10 acres, the project is the largest one in the campus’ history. The complex is slated to wrap construction in fall 2020 and will become the new home for Sixth College, composed of 2,000 undergraduate beds and 1,200 underground parking spaces. The complex will also include a market, dining hall, retail space and craft center — in addition to a pair of academic buildings, one each for Social Sciences and the Arts and Humanities.

“The North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood is a fundamental component in the transformation of the UC San Diego campus into a live, learn, play community,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla during the groundbreaking. “It’s an extraordinary venture that will enhance our students’ experience, providing them with a truly dynamic environment in which they can thrive.”

The Social Sciences’ space will be known as the Public Engagement Building, which will include the Department of Education Studies; CREATE, the Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment and Teaching Excellence; and the Urban Studies and Planning Program (with its new Real Estate and Development program major).

For Arts and Humanities, the division’s new building will include all three humanities departments — History, Literature and Philosophy — and will be the first time the trio will be hosted in the same space. The Arts and Humanities Building will also be home to the Institute of Arts and Humanities and the Analytical Writing Program.

Included in the academic space will be eight general assignment classrooms and four active learning classrooms, which are student-centered, technology-focused spaces, intended to facilitate student socializing. There will also be four lecture halls of different sizes: two 250-seat halls, one 350-seat hall and a spacious 600-seat lecture hall.

In addition to adding highly needed residential and learnings spaces, the NTPLLN will also provide ample open spaces and public improvements that will include the realignment of Scholars Drive.

UC San Diego will be working with Clark Construction Group – California, HKS Architects and Safdie Rabines Architects to create the intriguing new living and learning community. All three companies have offices in San Diego.

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Accordingly, many schools have been forced to tighten their belts to survive in today’s challenging economic climate. They’ve slashed funding for special programs, cut staff positions, eliminated equipment purchases, and reduced facilities operation and maintenance budgets. Despite record-breaking demands of student population growth, many school construction projects and programs are being delayed or put on hold indefinitely.

This difficult business environment has prompted several public educational institutions to look beyond traditional design and construction delivery methods and pursue new financing options. Public-private partnerships (P3s) are emerging as a promising way to tap the resources needed to address schools’ capital needs, setting the stage for significant acceleration in this form of collaboration. Colin Myer, managing director of project financing at FMI, states, “Currently, we are working with several contractors to explore new types of alliances with financial institutions in order to set up consortiums offering a wide array of P3 services for schools and other public entities.”

Public-private partnerships that are focused on renewable energy — solar energy systems specifically — are particularly effective and positive for school districts due to benefits like energy cost savings, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), environmental stewardship, and learning opportunities for students. Al Bucknam, CEO of SunDurance Energy, a major national supplier of solar power solutions to the government and education markets, explains, “The energy budget is the biggest cost item for many schools. The P3 solar energy model lends itself well to achieve meaningful savings: zero dollars upfront and savings on electric bills going forward. This is where educational organizations find most value in these types of partnerships.”

In a public-private partnership, a solar developer or its investors own and operate the photovoltaic (PV) installations on behalf of the school district over a specified time period. The developer then sells the power to the school via a contract known as a power-purchase agreement (PPA). This arrangement allows the private entity to sell power at a lower rate (due to renewable and federal tax credits) to the educational institution and more importantly, it helps keep the educational institution from dipping into its capital budget.

Bucknam adds, “Key to these projects is to find a private party that can take the tax benefits and then sell the power or lease the project back to the public entity. That way, the public entity (in this case the school district) receives the net benefit of lower energy costs and in some cases also the renewable energy credits.”

Elements of financing renewable energy systems – such as federally subsidized bonds, laws, incentives and interest rates – are fluid and subject to change over time. Project costs also vary according to tax law, the economic climate, installation costs, utility tariffs, and the amount of profit that an investor expects from the arrangement. Therefore, each project needs to be carefully planned and evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

In a different P3 scenario, school districts issue bonds and then loan the proceeds of their efforts to private developers, who in turn build the school. Once completed, the facility is leased to the district on a long-term basis at a lesser cost than the construction itself. The developer makes up the cost difference by leasing out the school building after hours, with profits varying depending on the number of additional leases generated.

In cash-strapped states like California, local school districts are starting to pursue such new financing options. Brian Gaunce, principal of Prefast Buildings, explains, “P3s will likely become more important here in California in the K-12 market over the next two to four years. Local school districts are going to be looking for bridge and long-term financing options to meet ongoing demand with lower capital available from the state school facilities program. Essentially, capital for school facility funding in California is being cut in as much as half due to recent state budgetary changes.”

Collaborating with the public sector presents both challenges and opportunities for companies that are accustomed to working with the private sector. When it comes to P3s, public agencies are primarily looking for innovation, creative financing solutions and ways to bring value from the private-side team. A high level of trust and open communication among all project participants is another critical prerequisite for these long-term partnerships. From the outset, owners expect contractors and other stakeholders to be honest and transparent about their financial state of affairs in order to get a better grasp of the risks involved, especially if they are new to P3s.

While it is unlikely that P3s will become the dominant delivery model in the future, FMI expects such partnerships to thrive within specific pockets in certain states; it will certainly represent a sizable, robust niche market worth considering in the future. With the nation facing a $300 billion shortfall in K-12 facilities funding, public-private partnerships are well-positioned to become more widely accepted in the education sector. They also provide the perfect opportunity to help America rebuild its education system — the very cornerstone of our nation’s long-term economic development and prosperity.

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