Grants, donations play greater role in campus planning and construction

lanning for future campus building needs is a “whole new ballgame” in today’s budget-weary times.

In years past, new buildings on campus were funded mostly by the Missouri State Legislature through capital requests. The state, today, however, is strapped financially with little money to plan for tomorrow. Academic departments are now going after federal grant dollars to meet space needs for new research centers on the East Campus, and development officers are seeking donations from alumni and friends of the university for other projects.

Jude Wawryzniak, architect and project manager in in Campus Facilities' Planning, Design & Construction department worked with architectural consultants and campus stakeholders to help win federal funds for new research facilities in the East Campus.

“The old model was for MU to submit capital requests to the State legislature years in advance and await state funding approval to implement the project,” said Jude Wawryzniak, architect and project manager in Planning, Design & Construction. “This involved an annual process that began by developing a program and planning study, or P P S, that would typically take six to eight months to complete, and served as the basis for the capital request.”

Seeking federal funds is today a whole new game and an entirely new process. The university must compete — and quickly — against institutions all over the country.

“You have deadlines, many times only 30 to 60 days, and there is little time to contemplate. The entire process is now condensed into a few weeks, and we are still expected to be just as accurate in defining the building program, working through campus site approvals, and developing detailed cost estimates,” Wawryzniak said.

MU won federal grant money to build the Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, top, and the National Swine Research & Resource Center with the input of Campus Facilities' PD&C department and other campus stakeholders, including the university's Office of Sponsored Programs.

MU has been successful in garnering federal awards, even though the process is fast-paced and sometimes difficult. The National Swine Research & Resource Center and a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, both grant-funded projects under way in the design phase, were secured with the input of program managers Wawryzniak and Doug Spellman, along with other stakeholders, including MU’s Office of Sponsored Programs. 

Planning ahead

Whether it’s a grant or gift that academic departments or other clients are seeking, Wawryzniak, along with other PD&C project managers, works closely with architectural firms to determine building needs — how much and what type of space is required, where and how it will be sited, and how much it will cost.

A major undertaking — and future asset in securing funding — has been the development of a vivarium master plan, a blueprint of housing facilities for research animals from which projections can be made. Working with Flad & Associates, an architectural firm in Madison, Wis., Wawryzniak found that much of the space where large animals are now housed on campus is better suited for rodents in cages that can be stacked. This plan thus revealed an immediate need for a non-rodent animal housing facility, or Animal Resource Center, that subsequently resulted in a federal grant application.

“Overall, there is a major shortage of research animals and space to house them,” Wawryzniak said. “MU animal researchers need 8,500 net square feet for large animals right now. We know we’ll need another 16,000 net square feet in two years and, based on current needs and projected growth, another 8,000 net square feet on top of that in four years. The vivarium master plan confirmed and quantified a shortage of space and should improve MU’s chances when seeking grants and donations.”

Preliminary work pays off

Wawryzniak said campus departments may spend upwards of $40,000 for architectural/engineering services — program and planning studies and preliminary drawings — to submit with grant proposals. Academic departments so far haven’t been disappointed in this outlay of planning and upfront money.

Construction of the 35,000-square-foot Biosafety Level 3 Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, one of only nine such facilities in the nation, will begin in 2005. The structure will house a high-security laboratory and support spaces where tissues containing various animal pathogens can be studied. The College of Veterinary Medicine was awarded a $6.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to build the lab after a panel of experts recommended a coordinated, national program to watch for and identify outbreaks of disease caused by bioterrorists, and to create therapies and vaccines to control such emergencies.

MU also received a $10.54 million grant from N I H for the construction and operation of the National Swine Research & Resource Center. The funds include $2.848 million, which the campus will match, to build the 20,000-square-foot facility. Construction is scheduled to begin January 2005. Another $7.1 million from N I H will be used for operating the swine center. The center will create, store and distribute swine models to biomedical researchers around the globe.

Randall Prather, distinguished professor of reproductive biotechnology from the College of Agriculture, says “Swine models offer new opportunities for the study of human health because of their physiological similarities to humans and their size advantage over rodents.” Prather is helping to establish the center and is known internationally as the first scientist to clone a pig.

MU master planner Perry Chapman's long-range plan for the East Campus includes both high-density development and low-density research and support buildings. The illustration shows existing buildings in purple, buildings in the design stage in gold and buildings in the planning stage in red. Other potential building sites are shown in white.

Keeping with tradition

In keeping with the unified “open-space system” of MU’s Campus Master Plan, Wawryzniak and the other project managers must look always at the “big picture” when determining future building sites across campus. This includes keeping within design guidelines to unify the look of the campus and planning for underground utility corridors to accommodate greater development in a given area.

MU’s Master Planner Perry Chapman has worked with campus administrators and PD&C’s project managers to determine area needs and has helped establish a plan for both high-density development (three- to five-story buildings) between Ashland Road and East Campus Drive, and low-density research and support buildings east of East Campus Drive, which are more compatible with the subsurface fill conditions that prevail near the Hinkson Creek bluffs.

“It was determined that a plan and infrastructure framework should be established before siting the buildings to ensure that the land is developed in an efficient and unified way,” said Chapman. “Future building sites will follow the tradition of the core campus and form the edges of the open space framework across the East Campus and to the natural areas at the edge of Hinkson Creek.”

Additional East Campus projects discussed by Chapman at April’s 2004 Campus Master Plan hearing are: the Center for Comparative Medicine; the Animal Resource Center; the Spay/Neuter Clinic; a parking structure; and a Veterinary Medicine Guest House.