|
The building organization consists of a three-story research wing (right) and two-story
administrative wing (left) linked by an atrium. Outdoor collaborative spaces include a courtyard
and terrace. All photos: New York Focus
|
Since its inception, the Sanford Burnham Medical Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif.,
established compassion as its ultimate goal: to sustain and improve the lives of others. The will
to sustain life permeates the organizational culture and is sought holistically, from the products
of research to the built structures where the research occurs. Sanford-Burnham, a nonprofit
organization, is also collaborative at its core. An interdisciplinary spirit has helped make it
one of the top 25 organizations worldwide for research impact.
Sanford-Burnham focuses on key health-related issues, including cancer, neuroscience, aging,
and infectious and inflammatory diseases. Its new core facility in Orlando., dedicated in fall
2009, was the first building within the 50-acre Lake Nona medical city master plan developed by
Perkins+Will. The new building needed to complement existing amenities in the organization’s
California facility and become a beacon of outreach to the global medical community on the U.S.
east coast. The new core facility allows expanded research into cancer and new focuses on diabetes
and chemical genomics.
In creating the project, the client wanted a building to showcase its humanitarian,
collaborative spirit. Through the design process, these values worked in synergy to create an
inspiring and unique space. Research and collaboration flow vertically and horizontally within the
building, which is an expression of collaborative zones instead of isolated knowledge silos. The
visual and spatial connections that dominate the user’s experience also became the driving
sustainable features of the project, encompassing connection to a native and verdant site, the
experience of water’s phases, daylight and fresh air.
The commitment to sustainable outcomes for a lab project necessitates intense coordination
between a building owner, developer, and design and construction team. A challenge at the onset
was to ensure that all team members adopt a 21st Century model of coordinated building delivery.
At project inception, a schedule of workshops with the participation of the entire team was
established for the programming, concept design and schematic design phases. The goal for these
sessions was to first establish a shared vision, and then to explore and develop sustainable
design principles while adhering to the budget and schedule.
A live document that organized the team’s activities was used during design and construction to
identify areas for improvement and to ensure goals were being met. This integrated process was
critical for allowing the team to make timely decisions on problems involving first costs,
life-cycle costs and complex building systems.
|
This plan of the second floor illustrates the linkage between the administrative zone (top) and
the lab wing (bottom). Labs are easy to view from the associated offices (brown) across the
research “spine.” Plan: Perkins+Will
|
Connecting researchers
The Institute’s multidisciplinary style of research aims to bring together biologists, chemists,
biophysicists, engineers and computer scientists Once the client’s culture was understood,
Perkins+Will set out to develop a design that would merge the core values of sustainability and
collaboration.
The 200,000-ft2 project consists of two parallel wings with a connecting hub. Some
of the specialized research amenities include a vivarium, state-of-the-art imaging and other
resources that allow for exploratory pharmacology. The design eliminates barriers; collaborative
spaces flow into research spaces. Intimate group collaboration occurs in the long three-story
research laboratory wing, and large-scale conferencing and interaction occurs in the smaller
two-story wing. The two wings are joined by a two story glass-walled common space with an open
communicating stair. Glass walls along the collaborative spine of the lab wing allow for north and
south views directly through interior corridors and perimeter offices to the lush site beyond.
Smart water use
Native plantings are visible from anywhere within the building. They were carefully selected
according to maintenance and water needs into three hydro-zones: high water use or oasis (turf)
zone (limited); medium or drought-tolerant water use zone; and low or natural water use zone.
Potable water is not used for irrigation of plantings; instead, storm water is stored in a pond as
a primary source, with reclaimed water from the local utility as a secondary source.
The site experiences hot and humid outdoor conditions throughout most of the year--over 40 in.
of rainfall annually--and must be 100% pervious to rainfall. To increase density on the site and
simultaneously maximize open space, a dry-retention solution of “bio-swales” was created to filter
surface runoff. Water features surround the building and are fully visible from interior spaces
such as the cafeteria.
Water vapor also embodies useful energy. Laboratory spaces require 100% outside air. In a hot
and humid environment like Central Florida, that means dehumidifying and cooling large amounts of
fresh air, which has high energy costs. Lab air that is exhausted passes through three 15-ft-dia.
enthalpy recovery wheels, which absorb sensible energy and latent energy from an air stream in the
first half of a revolution and transfer the energy to another air stream in the second half. In
cooling mode, the energy is transferred from the incoming outside air to the air that is being
exhausted.
Guided by a whole-building energy model that included utility costs, the team opted to use the
energy recovery wheels for the air handling units associated with the labs only, at a payback
period of 2 years and 9 months. Steam condensate from sterilizers and glass washers is captured to
return energy to the boiler, and a chilled water return loop cools the discharge of very hot water
used for cleaning. This raises the difference in temperature of the two chilled water streams,
which allows the chillers to operate at higher efficiency.
|
Several communicating stairs link the floors of the facility; shown here is the main spine of the
research wing.
|
The use of low-flow faucets and toilets, dual-flush valves, waterless urinals and electronic
sensors represents over 140,000 gal of water saved each year. However, in a research facility, the
majority of the water use comes from processes related to the research activities. This includes
lab water, water for cleaning and washing, ice making and other process uses. Together with the
plumbing system designers, the laboratory planning team specified low-flow fixtures in all
laboratory areas, and selected washing equipment that utilizes a cascading system, in which
cleaner water from final rinse cycles is saved for use in the earlier cycles of subsequent
washes.
With these strategies, the building is not only able to save upwards of 750,000 gal
of potable water every year, but is also saving over $3,800 annually in energy costs associated
with heating such water. The team achieved the goal of reducing total water use by more than 50%,
compared with a comparable typical project.
Connecting to daylight
With the laboratory spaces located toward the south, the heat load gained through the envelope is
overwhelmed by the ventilation requirements of the labs. That leaves the cooler, north facing
spaces for uses whose energy loads are driven by cooling, such as offices and administration
spaces.
The building orientation and overhangs and shading devices on the exterior wall protect window
openings from harsh direct solar radiation. Using the energy model, the architecture and
mechanical design teams analyzed varied glazing options based on the solar heat gain coefficient,
visible light transmittance (VLT) and U-value of the proposed glazing assemblies. The conclusion
was to use high-performance low-e glazing with a combined SHGC of 0.28 and VLT of 53%. This
represents a 35% increase in performance over a baseline of vision glazing without requiring
tinted glass, and corresponds to $160,000 in annual savings over the same baseline. The selected
glazing allows low levels of solar heat gain while welcoming ample natural daylight available in
Central Florida.
The combination of energy-saving design strategies means that the building spends 25% less on
energy than a baseline building using ASHRAE 90.1-2004. This is expected to save over a half
million dollars annually in energy costs.
|
Movable casework and overhead utilities make labs easily reconfigurable for changing needs.
|
Indoors that breathe
Laboratory spaces automatically have improved ventilation, air flow monitoring, and thermal and
lighting controllability. Beyond this, in the Burnham project there is thermal comfort
controllability for more than 50% of building occupants. The facility meets ASHRAE Standard
55-2004 for thermal comfort design.
During construction, high indoor air quality was maintained to prevent the intrusion of dust in
ductwork and the build-up of allergens. Only low-emitting materials were selected and procured by
the project team, which allowed the building’s air quality to pass LEED-mandated testing before
occupancy, as opposed to the flush-out compliance path, which is more costly due to the
conditioning of outside air, especially in a hot and humid environment like Central Florida.
The new building is intended to be the engine and backdrop of scientific breakthroughs. Teams
were moved from their research silos into “zones of collaboration.” Collaborative spaces flow
vertically through a series of cascading stairs and the multi-height atrium space that connects
the wings. They also flow horizontally via open lounge areas in corridors and layers of glass lab
and office partitions. This spatial and visual connectivity works at both the psychological and
functional levels; daylight penetrates lab spaces deep within and surrounds the users with a view
of the outdoors from any vantage point.
A facility that is designed to be healthy and use significantly lower levels of energy and
water benefits not only its surrounding environment and occupants, but also the bottom-line of its
stakeholders. Every decision that was taken and continues to be taken through the course of design
and operation takes into account this triple bottom-line approach. With this kind of thinking, we
hope that the facility, which achieved LEED Gold certification last December, will serve as an
example and a catalyst for future green building in the region for years to come.
Pat Bosch is design principal and Angel Suarez is project design/technical coordinator in
the Miami office of the architecture firm Perkins+Will (www.perkinswill.com).
Published in Laboratory Design newsletter: Vol. 15, No. 12, December, 2010.
