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Lab honored for accommodating
complex program, schedule
The southwestern elevation of the Univ. of Pittsburgh Biomedical Sciences Tower III overlooks busy Fifth Avenue. All photos: Warren Jagger Photography. Click to enlarge. |
The Project: Univ. of Pittsburgh, Biomedical Sciences Tower III (BST3). Eleven-story research tower encompassing 330,000 ft2 of space in urban Pittsburgh (includes basement-level imaging core labs), plus high-bay mechanical penthouse. $188 million.
This project received a Special Mention citation in the 2007 Lab of the Year competition for its sensitive accommodation of an unusually complex program, as well as its ability to adapt space for a newly awarded NIH/NIAID Regional Biocontainment Laboratory while already under construction.
BST3 also earned a 2006 Honor Award for Design Excellence from the American Institute of Architects, Pittsburgh chapter, and a 2006 Building Excellence Award from the Master Builder’s Association of Western Pennsylvania. In addition, it was named as 2006 Project of the Year by the Engineers’ Society of Western Pennsylvania.
The Team: Payette, Boston (architecture); JSA Architects, Pittsburgh (associate architect, civil engineering); GPR Planners Collaborative (now Jacobs Consultancy), Tarrytown, N.Y. (lab consultant); Bard, Rao + Athanas Consulting Engineers Inc., Watertown, Mass. (MEP engineering); R.M. Gensert Associates, Pittsburgh (structural engineering); Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger, Waltham, Mass. (structural engineering); Landworks Studio, Salem, Mass. (landscape architecture); Mascaro Construction Co. LP, Pittsburgh, and Hunt Construction Group Inc., Indianapolis (joint venture construction team).
Typical flexible casework and generic open labs, including top-down utility access from an in-ceiling service chase.Click to enlarge. |
The Users: The Univ. of Pittsburgh has a thriving research and teaching program and ranks among the top 10 schools receiving National Institutes of Health research funding. BST3 supports collaborative programs in structural biology, radiology, cryo-electron microscopy, computational biology, animal research, a transgenic research core, histology, neurobiology, bioengineering, genomics, proteomics, drug discovery, synthetic chemistry, and the interdisciplinary Pittsburgh Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease. In addition, it is home to one of the first NIH-funded Regional Biocontainment Laboratories. Occupancy: ~500.
The Schedule: Design commenced 2001; construction started in 2003; occupied 2005-06.
The Goals: The Univ. of Pittsburgh has a strong track record in research lab construction, including the Biomedical Science Tower I (375,000 ft2, 1990) and its sister facility, the BST II (236,000 ft2, 1996). Due to the evolution of research toward a more collaborative model, along with the need to more efficiently accommodate shifts in the investigative staff, Pitt decided to create a new research tower with a more flexible, generic design. About half the planned space was destined to accommodate new researchers; the rest would be assigned to existing investigators scattered throughout the campus. An enclosed bridge linking BST3 to the other two BST buildings was an important part of the program.
In general, the stacking of the building reflects a progression from basic science (structural biology, lower floors) to developed concepts (proteomics, drug discovery, and synthetic chemistry on the upper floors). The animal facility spans four floors on the north side of the facility. All plans: Payette.Click to enlarge. |
In addition, the university needed a sizable new animal facility, supporting work with transgenic rodents, nonhuman primates, and aquatic species (primarily zebra fish). A basement-level imaging suite was desired to accommodate new NMRs and other cutting-edge imaging technologies. When Pitt was awarded an NIH/ NIAID Regional Biology Laboratory designation in 2003, the program was augmented to provide space for a 30,000-ft2 facility combining BSL-2, BSL-3, and ABSL-3 labs. (Originally, the building’s highest planned biosafety designation was ABSL-3 for a small vivarium quarantine suite).
The Solutions: The design team’s overriding concept for accommodating the plethora of research types was the “Gemini” plan: creating a pair of roughly rectangular wings joined by a major corridor that bisects the building from east to west. The tall facility occupies a tight urban site that includes a grade change of about 30 ft from north to south, which influenced the massing approach. About half the building consists of research labs with the other half comprising core labs.
Though the floorplates vary a good deal depending on the program, open labs generally occupy the south perimeter, overlooking busy Fifth Ave. The façade on this side is marked by regular bands of windows alternating with limestone, bringing ample light to the labs on this side. The north side of the building, which faces BST2, has a mix of lab types, which are less generic than those on the south side. These include open research labs, which are generously windowed; the animal facility, which is primarily limestone-clad; and a mechanical penthouse level. Lab support is generally at the building core, with office suites at the southeast and northwest corners. The short eastern and western sides of the building also host break and conference rooms, vertical circulation cores, and mechanical shafts.
| A central corridor bisects each floor of BST3, marking a rough division of generic space at the south and specialized space at the north. Shown are the basement-level imaging labs (right); the sixth floor, with rodent holding and procedure rooms, neurobiology labs, a large seminar room, and bridge to the adjacent BST2 (middle); and the ninth floor, home to the Center for Vaccine Research, including an ABSL-2+ suite, proteomics core labs, FT mass spec, high-throughput screening, and a robotic storage unit/sample library (left). |
In general, the vertical organization proceeds from basic ideas of structural biology (including the basement imaging suite and first two aboveground levels), to the central levels encompassing computational biology, wet labs, and animal study, to proteomics and the drug discovery and synthetic chemistry program on the highest research floors.
The 43,000-ft2 animal facility spans the north sides of the third through sixth above-ground floors, plus dedicated space for bedding storage that adjoins a second-story loading dock. (This side of the second floor is at ground level due to the site grade change.) The vivarium is served by dedicated MEP space at levels three and four.
A “sky bridge” connects BST3 to BST2 (and BST1 beyond it) at level six, with the transition marked by a two-floor “sky lobby” overlooking the city. A prominent corner entry to the building is also accessible at street level on Fifth Avenue. An existing system of tunnels and bridges provides access to other buildings, allowing BST3 to serve as a shared resource for researchers who are not based there.
The NMR room in the basement-level imaging facility is bathed in daylight thanks to clerestory windows. An integral crane system and high-bay construction will facilitate future reconfiguration and instrument replacement.Click to enlarge. |
The Highlights: Concerned about the challenges previously encountered when PIs move, are hired, or leave the university, Pitt had a strong interest in making labs open and flexible wherever possible. The basic open module is 10-ft, 6-in. wide by 28 ft deep and includes write-up zones at the window wall. Casework (a new prototype by supplier Fisher Hamilton) is a plug-and-play concept consisting of height-adjustable tables, movable shelves, caster-equipped under-bench cabinetry, and top-down utility distribution through quick-connects or twist-locks at ceiling level.
Rather than a dropped “boom” or vertical chase, the design incorporates a “ceiling service plate” whereby services are piped and wired within the ceiling plane.
A somewhat unusual aspect of the basement-level imaging center is the fact that it is bathed in natural light. The first floor of the building is stepped back to allow a slot of removable clerestory windows along the south and west sides of the underground facility, which contains five NMRs ranging from 600 to 900 MHz and has capacity to accommodate up to two more 900-MHz units. A 25-ft ceiling and overhead 15-ton crane offer flexibility in moving units in the future. Cryo-electron microscopy and a 7-Tesla full-body MRI also occupy basement labs, with x-ray crystallography and cold rooms complementing them on floor one.
BST3’s animal facility is stacked so researchers conduct non-animal research near the floors where related research animals are housed. Cage-wash and procedure rooms receive natural light, improving the environment for both animals and staff. The vivarium includes procedure and holding space for 12,000 cages; nonhuman primate holding space for 130 animals; a surgical suite; an ABSL-2+ rabies isolation facility; and the ABSL-3 quarantine facility. The fifth-floor aquatics suite includes 10,000 zebra fish tanks, making it the largest facility of its kind in the U.S.
The new Regional Biocontainment Laboratory occupies an upper floor, and includes ABSL-3 holding and procedure rooms for nonhuman primates, BSL-3 in-vitro labs, BSL-2 prep labs, an aerobiology suite, a flow cytometry suite, and administrative offices. Supported by an $18 million NIAID grant plus matching funds from Pitt, the facility focuses on development of vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics for infectious agents, including those potentially used in bioterrorism. Features include virtually independent MEP systems with 100% redundancy.
Due to the RBL designation, the facility design had to be upgraded with vehicular barriers, bollards, impact-resistant planters, personnel screening checkpoints, blast-mitigation walls, and structural hardening features. Construction methodology for the eighth-floor labs is also, of necessity, more robust than in the rest of the building.
Ninth-floor labs supporting Pitt’s Center for Vaccine Research are also sophisticated, including an ABSL-2+ suite, flow cytometry, proteomics core labs, FT mass spec, a high-throughput screening core, and a miniature robotic storage unit and sample library. The Center’s proximity to the RBL within the building encourages collaboration on related projects.
The Drug Discovery Institute, housed on the 10th floor, consists mainly of synthetic chemistry labs, including 64 fume hoods. The floor also hosts a small NMR imaging suite with 400-MHz and 600-MHz instruments. The presence of NMR instruments this high in the facility (as well as the mass spec on floor nine) posed a particular challenge for the engineering design, given the strict vibration and environmental stability criteria required for this type of instrumentation.
Though the building’s finishes are fairly utilitarian, with the majority of money clearly going to functionality, several touches provide sophistication and interest. For instance, the primary corridor system as well as vertical surfaces in stairwells are marked with alternating patterns of resilient flooring, with linear color blocking inspired by mouse chromosome patterns. Interior glazing around conference rooms helps daylight penetrate the interior. Coffee/ break rooms on each floor provide wireless connectivity, inviting building users to linger in the spaces. Panelized construction of glazing units, incorporating high-tech glass, simplified construction on the tight urban site.
The Results: Lab of the Year judges were impressed by the design’s ability to accommodate Pitt’s complex objectives, especially given the site and time constraints. The imaging suite drew particular praise. “It is located in the basement but uses the areaway access to bring light to what is usually dark basement space,” comments Erik Mollo-Christensen, Tsoi/Kobus Associates, Cambridge, Mass.
Judge Bill Wilson, William Wilson Associates, Cambridge, adds, “The valuable basement floor is a high-bay lab, with daylighting. This is an important lesson for owners and designers, showing that science in basements can have natural light.”
Judge Richard Rietz, Helena, Mont., says, “It is truly amazing how many different types of spaces were packed into this building. BST3 is a harbinger of the future; we will have to pack more, disparate core facilities into our lab buildings and make those buildings work on ever-smaller pieces of land. The solution to BST3 is truly a planning gem. To get it all to work in a high-rise lab is quite an accomplishment.”
Arthur S. Levine, MD, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine, says the building embodies new thinking about synergistic research at Pitt. “The flexibility of the research space in this innovative building allows our faculty members to come together in multidisciplinary teams to think and work in new, more scientifically creative ways. Although the university has worked hard to eliminate administrative barriers to collaboration, the lack of physical barriers in the BST3 space exemplifies this philosophy at a more tangible level.”
The Contact: Kevin B. Sullivan, AIA, Payette, 617-895-1000, ksullivan@payette.com.
— Julie S. Higginbotham, editor
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