Major China research campuses planned by U.S. firms The Tianjin
Tianjin Biomedical Research Institute. Design: X-nth. Click to enlarge.
Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA), a massive project in Northern China, will include a research and drug production campus, Tianjin Biomedical Research Institute. X-nth, Matland, Fla., will be master planner for the project after its selection in an international design competition. The firm’s proposal includes up to 3.6 million ft2 of facilities, including research labs, animal holding facilities, manufacturing scale-up areas, a clinical research center/ hospital, a hazardous waste management facility, business incubator space, offices, and service areas. The entire development will be based on an “infrastructure pedestal level” housing all utility infrastructure as well as maintenance, parking, storage, and other support functions. The campus core will include large water features and a series of “Tea Labs”: meeting areas for social interaction and collaboration. For more:www.ewalab.com.
Another American firm, MulvannyG2 Architecture of Bellevue, Wash., will provide master planning, landscaping, and building design for the 64-acre Huawei Beijing Environmental Technology Park. Developer Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is China’s largest manufacturer of telecom equipment. The R&D park will have a special focus on environmental remediation and protection. Phase 1 is tentatively scheduled for opening in 2010.
For more:www.mulvannyg2.com.
Plan would bolster N.Y. research power The State Univ. of New York at Buffalo, better known as the Univ. at Buffalo, has announced UB2020: a plan to grow the university by 40%, including major new research capabilities. The expansion focuses on construction, renovation, expansion, and environmental sustainability of facilities, public spaces, landscaping, and infrastructure between the schools’ existing North, South, and downtown campuses. Beyer Blinder and Belle Architects & Planners of New York City will develop the master plan in association with the university’s building team and local architects Foit-Albert Associates. According to president John B. Simpson, the university aspires to become one of the nation’s top public research universities. Specific building projects have not yet been announced. The growth coincides with other major projects in the Buffalo-Niagara area, including the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, the Univ. at Buffalo/New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute Center for Genetics and Pharmacology. For more:www.buffalo.edu/ub2020/overview.
Top A/E firms catalogued Many of the top architecture and A/E firms listed in the annual “Giants” report created by Building Design & Construction magazine are companies with a significant presence in the science design sector. Among the top 10 architecture firms (ranked by annual overall billings) are Perkins+Will (2); NBBJ (4); Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (5); Perkins Eastman (6); and Zimmer Gunsul Frasca (9). Among the top 10 in the A/E firm list are Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum (1); Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (2); HDR Architecture (4); RTKL Associates (5); SmithGroup (6): Heery International (7); and Cannon Design (8). Many more lab-design-intensive companies appear in the “Top 50” lists of the report. For more:www.bdcnetwork.com.
San Franciso gets tough with green San Francisco seems poised to go Boston one better in the realm of sustainability regulations—at least if city supervisors endorse a pending “green” ordinance. The standards would apply to both publicly and privately funded projects, and suggest that private facilities meet the LEED Gold standard by 2012. Achievement of at least LEED Certified level would be required for large new commercial projects as early as 2008. For more:http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/11/MNG7UQUI4B1.DTL.
Control methodology saves energy in cleanrooms Demand-controlled filtration, a method developed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif., could save money in cleanroom facilities by basing airflow on actual contamination levels. Using commercial particle counters, fan speeds are directly controlled by sensing particle counts in real time, instead of full-time, full-speed ventilation based on rules of thumb. A pilot study by LBNL of a 300-ft2 ISO Class 5 cleanroom verified that higher fan speeds (and thus more expense) do not necessarily correlate with lower particle counts. For more:http://hightech.lbl.gov/dc-filtration.html.
Architecture profits way up U.S. architecture and engineering firms are enjoying record-level profits, according to a new report by consulting firm ZweigWhite. The 2007 edition of “Financial Performance Survey of Architecture, Engineering, Planning & Environmental Consulting Firms” indicates that the median pre-tax, pre-bonus profit margin on net service revenue is now 14%, and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization expenses) is at an all-time high of 15.9% of net service revenue. Report authors credit a strong economy, higher staff utilization levels, and greater leverage of fixed overhead costs. The primary challenge to growing even stronger: difficulty hiring and retaining key people. For more:www.zweigwhite.com.
Communal space grows as personal space shrinks Collaborative and communal space, a crucial aspect of most modern lab buildings, is gaining ground in all building types, according to the International Facility Management Assn. Meanwhile, the amount of space devoted to offices for executives has shrunk from 291 ft2 in 1987 to 241 ft2 in 2007—with today’s “senior professionals” allotted only about 98 ft2 and call center employees, a measly 50 ft2. IFMA’s “Space and Project Management Benchmarks, Research Report No. 28” indicates that the personal-space crunch is leveling off, perhaps indicating that the shrinkage has gone as far as possible without significantly hampering productivity. However, the amount of space devoted to conference, training, and break-out areas has jumped by more than 17% since 2002. Space allocated for storage, records, and libraries grew by 25% during the same period. For more:www.ifma.org.
Study: Retrofits can reduce hazard risks A new report from NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, gives building owners and managers options for reducing chemical and biohazard risks through retrofits. The guide can be used to determine whether, and how, buildings can be safeguarded against both accidental chemical releases and possible terrorist threats. Options include enhanced particle filtration, sorbent-based gaseous air cleaning, UV germicidal irradiation, and 11 other techniques. The work was developed with the cooperation of the EPA’s National Homeland Security Research Center. For more:http://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/build07/PDF/b07006.pdf.
Science park underway in Peach State Georgia State Univ., Atlanta, is building a new University Science Park, including two modern lab and classroom facilities, plus a business incubator. The 3-acre project is expected to be the core of a larger science park. Initial research buildings include the Parker H. Petit Science Teaching Laboratory and a yet-unnamed science research lab. Ultimately, the school’s departments of biology, chemistry, computer science, geosciences, nursing, nutrition, physical and respiratory therapies, physics and astronomy, and psychology will all be based at the site. Completion of the first buildings is anticipated by 2010. For more:http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwmsp/.
Biosite campus goes Bauhaus Biosite Inc., a developer and
manufacturer of lab diagnostic products, is in the midst of a $300 million site development at the Fenton Technology Park in the San Diego’s Mera Mesa neighborhood. Phase 1, finished in late 2005, encompasses 380,000 ft2 in four modernist buildings containing offices, R&D and biotech labs, manufacturing facilities, and warehousing and future expansion space. Phase 2 is now underway, and is expected to comprise ~800,000 ft2 of buildings, including more research labs, manufacturing, car parking, and office space. San Diego’s Architects-Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker master planned and designed the project, with construction by Reno Contractors. For more:www.a-dwrb.com/portfolio/?id=3.
College pushes science construction Montgomery College, a three-campus school with sites in Rockville, Germantown, and Takoma Park/Silver Spring, Md., has ambitious plans for growing its science capabilities. A 143,000-ft2 facility for biology, chemistry, and physics is in the works at the Rockville campus; Burt Hill Inc., Washington, D.C., is designing the facility, which starts construction early next year. A new $15 million Health Sciences Center was recently finished at the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus. The most extensive plan is for a bioscience education hub at the Germantown campus—part of a state-funded science and technology business park being developed by Rockville real estate firm Foulger-Pratt. A 40-acre, $150 million development is projected, encompassing up to 800,000 ft2 of lab and office space. For more:www.dgs.maryland.gov/press/graphics/072606b.pdf.
Green roof professional program debuts Add “AGRP” to the ever-expanding alphabet soup of professional designations you might find on A/E resumes in years to come. Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, a nonprofit, is rolling out the Green Roof Accreditation Program for those who have taken a series of courses on the creation of vegetated roofs. Three of the requisite courses are already available; the fourth should launch next year. The accreditation program, resulting in “Accredited Green Roof Professional” certification, is expected to be in place in 2009. For more:http://greenroofs.org/storage/trainingflyer.htm.
