Building Design & Construction

The new Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma, Wash., creates a more connected pediatric environment for the 70-year old institution that previously shared space with Tacoma General Hospital. The six-story, 262,114-sf building provides high-acuity services, specialty care, and family support spaces. The hospital supports the full continuum of care including for children living with chronic conditions who require coordinated, complex care.

On July 14, New York became the first state to halt data center construction. The one-year ban applies to data centers using 50 megawatts or more of electricity. New York’s initiative puts a growing national debate over how to manage infrastructure to support AI in the spotlight. Lawmakers and regulators in dozens of states are weighing measures to limit the effect of new data centers on electricity grids, utility bills, water supplies, and overall impacts on communities.

Rutgers University–Camden, a regional campus of Rutgers University, recently announced the topping out of its Cooper Street Gateway Project, designed by Clarke Caton Hintz. Located in downtown Camden, N.J., the $60 million redevelopment initiative will unify historic buildings with new academic and community spaces.

Quantum computing is attracting $71 billion in global funding and becoming a new in-demand real estate asset class, according to JLL. The influx of private investment and a heated battle for talent is creating new, concentrated innovation ecosystems. Billions in new technology infrastructure will be built in areas with access to university talent pipelines, which has become the key factor in site selection over other priorities like land or power costs, JLL says.

The crackdown on immigration by the Trump Administration continues to cause disruptions on construction sites and the impact is particularly acute in the residential space. A report in the Boston Globe covered the impact on the Massachusetts construction industry, illustrating how sitings of immigration enforcement personnel causes worksites to shut down.

This blog post was authored by Adam Wiese, Architect and Partner, RDG Planning & Design. Long before architecture became an industry of systems, specifications, and supply chains, it was something far more immediate. People built with what they could reach: stone from the hillside, timber from nearby forests, earth from the ground beneath their feet. These structures went beyond function, becoming inseparable from the places they occupied. Today, that relationship feels distant.

The bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law this month after President Donald Trump refrained from issuing a veto to stop it. The far-ranging legislation includes numerous measures aimed at encouraging more housing construction across the country. The Act’s provisions include: • Allowing the use of ready-to-use, pre-approved home designs so builders can get permits faster and build homes faster. • Modernizing and streamlining federal and local housing processes.

The new 220,000-sf Brooklyn (N.Y.) District 3 Sanitation Garage and Offices project features extensive daylighting and impressive sustainability features. Replacing an aging, undersized garage, the building houses the district’s full fleet—68 vehicles, including collection trucks and street sweepers—along with repair facilities, offices, and space for 120 workers. Grounded in community engagement and sustainability, the design responds to the surrounding Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.

The recently completed Nieuw Bergen, a residential project comprising seven buildings, has added 237 new homes to the Dutch city of Eindhoven. The new homes range from apartments for singles to family residences, and from social housing to luxury penthouses. The project includes five new buildings and two transformed historic structures.

This blog post was authored by Lindsay Straatmann, AIA, NCARB, LEED GA, CSI CDT, Principal, Vessel Architecture. For years, hospitality and senior living were viewed as entirely separate design markets. One focused on guests. The other focused on residents. One prioritized experience. The other prioritized care. But that distinction has started to fade. Today, both industries are moving toward the same goal: creating environments people genuinely want to spend time in.