Life Science Building | Tradeline, Inc.

Prior to construction, three buildings had to be demolished. The site was severely constrained and situated on a very busy block. The foundations were excavated to approximately 30 feet tight against the street and adjacent structures. Numerous existing, vital utilities had to be relocated both temporarily and permanently as part of the project. The relocation involved installation of 2000 lineal feet of 4- to 5-foot trenching, installation of manholes, and associated duct bank without disruption to existing utility services to the area.

The height of the water table, approximately 24 feet above the basement slab elevation at the high point, presented a challenge for the structural design of the basement slab system. A continuously operational pump under-drain system was installed. However, if the pump were to fail, the basement slab is designed to allow water to enter the basement through covered slab openings to avoid significant heaving of the floor slab.

The building includes a three-story administration and EM/MRI wing and an L-shaped five-story neuroscience and molecular cell biology wing. Offices run on the perimeter of the building, separated by a connecting corridor to the lab support spaces, which are adjacent to labs on the opposite perimeter of the building. The facility houses classrooms and meeting spaces, with front projection video, microphones, video sources, data inputs, and video conferencing. The two wings are connected with a two-story bridge at the second and third floors. In addition, the Life Science building is connected to two existing buildings via an aerial bridge and first floor corridor.

By creating a set of lab blocks within building cores, the space is more adaptable to reconfiguration to future needs. This approach also creates a modular lab unit that is typical throughout the building. Each lab will be provided with plumbing and process utilities and with natural gas, compressed air, and vacuum at each bench. Local cylinders, as required, provide gases to lab spaces. Support and non-laboratory spaces are located outside the lab block to avoid conflicts of use and/or configuration. To minimize and control noise and vibration above and below mechanical areas, thicker than normal floor slabs were utilized. Two 11.2 kV electrical feeders feed power to the building, routed via separate underground paths for redundancy and reliability. An integrated building control system oversees security/card access, fire alarm/life safety, lighting, power monitoring, building automation, and laboratory controls.

Throughout pre-construction, the design phase team charted an environmentally responsible approach to the design and engineering of the building. Using the LEED checklist as a framework, the team incorporated several sustainable design elements such as a high performance envelope (Low-E coatings and daylighting), VAV laboratory control system, and user control of window treatments.

Project Information

Building Owner:

Brown University

Building Location:

Providence, Rhode Island UNITED STATES

Project Type:

New Construction

Principal Building Function:

Research and teaching facility

Project Delivery Method:

Construction Management

Project Timeline

Sep 2000	Planning Start
Sep 2001	Design Start
Dec 2003	Construction Start
Dec 2006	Completion
Last known status: Completed

Project Cost:

$67,000,000

Construction Cost:

$52,500,000

Cost Per Sq. Ft:

$394

About These Cost Figures

Building Information

Project Includes:

Education
Laboratory
Life Sciences
Research

Total GSF:

170,000

Project Team

Architect

Ballinger

Builder

Gilbane Building Company

Consultant - Laboratory Planner

GPR Planners Collaborative, Inc.

Engineer - Electrical

E.W. Audet & Sons Inc.

Engineer - Mechanical

Arden Engineering Constructors LLC

Supplier - Concrete

J.L. Marshall & Sons Inc.

Supplier - Flooring

Allegheny Contract Flooring

Supplier - Glass Block

Ipswich Bay Glass Co.

Supplier - Laboratory Controls

Environmental Growth Chambers

Supplier - Laboratory Equipment

Gibson Associates Inc.

Supplier - Masonry

Grande Masonry

Supplier - Precast

Lymo Construction Inc.

Supplier - Roofing

Apollo Roofing and Sheet Metal Inc.

Profile Created 05/28/2008

Last Updated 09/02/2008

About the Reported Cost Figures

The cost figures reported are supplied by the firms that submitted these projects for publication, which in most cases are the designers or builders. Whereas these sources are intimately familiar with their projects, they may not be fully aware of the owners' finally-realized and recorded costs. In some cases, costs are truly and completely accounted for, and in others they represent a near approximation of the final costs. Costs have not been adjusted for year of construction, nor has any attempt been made to make regional cost adjustments.

Further, costs are not comparable on any kind of detailed standard costing model. Hence, it is possible for the cost of one building to include a steam boiler, while the cost of a comparable building might not include the boiler, if steam is being supplied from an already existing campus grid. Or, in another case, a building might include excess boiler capacity to supply steam to another building. Some submittals include fees or unusual site improvements as part of the construction costs, which others do not.

Fig. 1

Lab Interior

Fig. 2

Lobby