Major construction projects that are under way or will start this spring on both campuses will greatly expand facilities for academic and research programs, student services and infrastructure needs.

Construction will start this spring on the Richard and Barbara Silverman Hall for Molecular Therapeutics & Diagnostics. The building will be just south of the Pancoe-Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Life Sciences Pavilion and Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Hall.

The facility, expected to be ready for occupancy in fall 2009, will house researchers from the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. It will be home to more than a dozen research groups as well as several shared core facilities for the imaging and manipulation of biological molecules.

Approximately 245 principal investigators, researchers and staff members will occupy the building, including those affiliated with the Chemistry of Life Processes Institute -- biologists, chemists and engineers working on the prevention, detection and treatment of human disease through developing new medicines and diagnostics. The building will include a state-of-the-art imaging center on the first floor and two two-story interaction spaces.

The initial construction phase will include completion of the building shell and core and half of the space. The total cost when the four-story, 147,000-square-foot building is completed will be $100 million. On completion of the project, the current Allen Center parking lot will be converted to green space in accordance with the University's planning principles. A roadway will continue to provide access to the Allen Center and the science buildings complex, but traffic between the Allen Center and Pancoe will be limited to official vehicles, as it is for the roadway between University Library and Norris University Center.

In accordance with the University's policy of using sustainable design for new buildings, the facility has been designed as a green building and it is expected to receive LEED's certification as a “silver” building, the same designation awarded to the Ford Center.

The building is named for Richard Silverman, the John Evans Professor of Chemistry, and his wife, Barbara. Silverman, the discoverer of the drug Lyrica, has designated a portion of the royalties he receives to Northwestern to help fund construction of the building.

The northeast recreation field on the lakefront will be converted to an artificial turf field and will be lighted for varsity and club sports, intramurals and recreational use. The artificial turf is a synthetic grass with a rubber and sand base that results in a playing field that drains quickly and can be used more heavily than natural grass. Plans call for completion by fall quarter but regulatory review processes could delay that schedule.

The existing soccer field will become a parking lot that will be combined with the expansion of the Cook Hall parking lot, creating more than 400 new parking spaces.

Two other projects are planned for the north campus. The road between the Technological Institute and Cook Hall will be renovated this summer to provide safety and aesthetic enhancements. The work will include a new, grade-separated pedestrian sidewalk, new pavers to replace the asphalt, and new lighting, landscape and bike racks. The design for the renovation of the west Tech Plaza, the entranceway to the Technological Institute, is under way and bids on the project are expected next year.

The $10 million renovation of Annie May Swift Hall will begin this spring and be completed next year. The renovation will include a complete upgrade of all the mechanical, electrical, plumbing and architectural systems. The project will feature a new elevator, new restrooms and new window wells in the basement. Plans call for renovation of faculty and staff offices; restoration of both seminar-style classrooms on the first floor; the addition of a black-box style theater in space previously occupied by WNUR; and renovation and restoration of the Helmerich auditorium as a theatre/lecture hall for films, lectures and panel discussions.

The project is moving ahead now that WNUR was relocated this month from its basement location in Annie May Swift Hall to John J. Louis Hall. The departments of Radio/Television/Film and Performance Studies, temporarily relocated to the 1800 Sherman Avenue Building, will return to Annie May Swift when the project is completed.

The $15 million renovation and expansion of Searle Hall -- the student health center -- will provide a new reception/intake area, new waiting areas, more doctors' offices and treatment rooms, an expanded pharmacy, additional space for Counseling and Psychological Services and the relocation of the Life Skills Center from 619 Emerson into the building. The Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust has made a $1 million grant to Northwestern for the renovation and expansion of Searle Hall. The gift is in honor of John G. Searle, whose $800,000 gift made possible construction of the original health center. Mr. Searle served as president of G.D. Searle and Co. and vice president of the board of trustees.

Construction will start this summer on the fifth floor of Crowe Hall, with completion planned in 2008. This will provide 30 new faculty offices to meet the needs of humanities faculty members in the Weinberg College. The religion department will be the first to occupy some of the space, with other humanities faculty moving in at a later date. The estimated cost is $5 million.

Planning and design has begun for development of space for the Alice Berline Kaplan Institute for the Humanities on the ground floor of Kresge Hall. The institute will relocate from 2010 Sheridan Road to larger space to house its programs. The move will take place this year after Technology Support Services and its Help Desk move from Kresge to the 1800 Sherman Avenue Building and its space is renovated for the institute.

The Central Utility Plant will be expanded to house new chillers that are needed to meet the cooling load imposed by Silverman Hall. The $40 million project is also designed to handle anticipated loads over the next 20 years and to provide appropriate cooling and process chilled water capacity to the Evanston campus during the annual Labor Day steam shutdown.

Construction will start this spring on new facilities for the men's and women's basketball programs at the north end of McGaw Memorial Hall. The area, now a large open area used for baseball, basketball and other programs, will be renovated with locker rooms, showers, meeting rooms, rooms for coaches' locker rooms and a locker room for officials. The $2.5 million improvement is scheduled for completion before the next season.

The existing men's and women's locker rooms, now housed under the north stands of Welsh-Ryan Area, will be converted for use by visiting teams. The women's volleyball program will also move within that section.

Future plans call for the addition of a second story to the north end facility. That will be occupied by coaching staffs of the men's and women's basketball programs that are currently housed in the main lobby of the south entrance to McGaw Hall.

The $14 million renovation of Wieboldt Hall for the School of Continuing Studies is continuing. This includes a new gateway space for SCS on the first floor with a reception area, an online registration kiosk and new signage. Work will include renovation of classrooms, new windows and upgraded building infrastructure -- new heating, air-conditioning and electrical systems; new restrooms on the fifth floor; and the elimination of restrooms on stairwell landings. Both the fourth and fifth floors will be gutted and reconfigured to make way for 18 classrooms wired as “smart” classrooms and a large classroom equipped with videoconference capability. The large fourth-floor room will seat 75, and the fifth-floor room will hold 62. The fourth floor will feature one computer/technology lab.

Construction is underway on the buildout of the ninth floor and design is under way for the build out of the 10th floor of the Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center. The 15,000 net square-foot ninth floor will house Steven Wolinsky (infectious disease), Tomas Hope (cell molecular biology and other researchers who work on infectious disease, including HIV-1. It will contain a BL3 facility to support research that requires virus containment, a DNA sequencing lab, two chemistry laboratories, six office spaces and approximately 6,500 net square feet of laboratory space. The floor, which features a design different than other Lurie floors, was designed by Ken Kornberg, son of Arthur Kornberg and brother of William Kornberg, both of whom were Nobel Laureates.

The 10th floor of Lurie will house researchers in the regenerative area, including those in the Feinberg Cardiovascular Institute and research groups headed by Teresa Woodruff (Women's Health Research Institute) and Samuel Stupp (Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine). This floor will use the standard Lurie floor design with 12 offices and 7,600 net square feet of laboratory space, plus 4,400 square feet of support space. This project will complete the development of the entire Lurie Medical Research Center, which opened its doors in 2005.

The eighth floor of the Arthur Rubloff Building was renovated and occupied this year by the School of Law's Bluhm Legal Clinic and its centers and programs -- Children and Family Justice Center, Small Business Opportunity Center, Center for International Human Rights, Center on Wrongful Convictions, MacArthur Justice Center, Investor Protection Center, Fred Bartlit Center for Trial Strategy, Program on Negotiation and Mediation, and the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program.

The 23,000-square-foot space includes offices for more than 40 clinical faculty members as well as an improved reception area, a secured file room, meeting and conference rooms, and a training room equipped with smart technology. The space also features an expansive student work area that overlooks Lake Michigan.

Plans are also under way to improve internal access between the law school and the Rubloff Building lobby by creating a corridor that will make it possible to go between those locations without going outside the buildings. Design plans also call for two new 70-seat classrooms adjacent to the corridor space. These projects are scheduled for completion by fall 2007.

The ninth floor of Rubloff was also renovated and occupied early this year. The 23,000-square-foot floor is now home for Medical Development, Medical Finance, Medical Information Systems and a new obesity research center. The space vacated by Medical Finance on the 13th floor of Abbott Hall is now the permanent home of the Department of Family Medicine.

From day one, students learn that truth is our ultimate goal -- not exoneration.

- Professor David Protess on the Medill Innocence Project