The $85-million interdisciplinary facility brings together researchers who need labs with a lot of infrastructure to study electrical engineering, material science, biology, chemistry, physics, and neuroscience.

Labs are divided into three levels of fume hood density: low, medium, and high. A total of 180 fume hoods are spread out in concentrations as intense as four fume hoods per 800-sf module (typically accommodating one PI and four to six graduate students). The fume hood scheme is expected to promote interdisciplinary interaction by grouping researchers with similar needs together.

All mechanical equipment is housed in the basement, with exhaust discharged via shafts at either end and in the center of the building. Fresh, single-pass air is cooled and distributed through the office areas, then cycled through the labs and out through the top. Electrical switchgear is also in the basement. However, power closets on each floor make it easy to boost power to any of the labs to accommodate heavier-than-normal loads.

Modular, “mix-and-match” lab furniture is easily reconfigurable. Many of the cabinets, available in several models, are on wheels, and in many of the labs, tables are not fastened to the floor. The overhead carriers that deliver all the services to the benchtop are also modular. Mechanisms embedded in the concrete floor above provide a support for the suspended shelf units and utilities, offering plug-in access for gases and data lines.

A group of smaller specialty labs stretches out behind the lab modules, accommodating more specialized equipment, such as laser spectroscopy. Some of these specialty labs open directly into the linear equipment room, which is essentially a service corridor along the perimeter of the building. At 12 feet wide, however, it furnishes four extra feet of permanent space for gear like refrigerators and centrifuges, while maintaining an 8-foot-wide path for circulation and freight, chemical, and gas delivery. Data outlets are available so devices can be connected to the Internet for monitoring or alarming. Periodic openings in the wall provide access to utility hook-ups should new services like chilled water or compressed air be needed in a lab module.

In addition to their high degree of functionality, the linear equipment rooms are lined with clerestory windows that brighten the space with bountiful natural light.

The building’s multiple core rooms include a cleanroom, high-resolution microscopy, characterization, autoclaves, cold rooms, and focused ion beam systems housed in the basement.

Casual gathering areas are furnished with low tables and chairs and wireless Internet access. Many of these spots are clustered around the communicating stairway that runs between the first and second floors, and then the third and fourth floors. (It skips the second-to-third level for fire code reasons.)

Each floor has two conference rooms, a smaller one at the central core, looking out onto open areas, and a larger one tucked away at one end of the lab wing. Designed to accommodate about 25 people, the larger rooms have balconies that cantilever off the edge of the building.

Clustered in groups of six per wing along the building front, the glass-walled faculty offices are all a uniform 146 sf, exact replicas of each other. In a scheme borrowed from industry, graduate students and post-doctoral scientists are assigned to cubicles in an open-plan arrangement, enjoying the same kind of natural light and views as the permanent faculty.

For both safety and space economy, the labs themselves have no sit-down desks. Instead, moveable under-bench cabinets are available with a slide-out writing surface.

The decision not to incorporate classrooms or department offices in the multidisciplinary building simplified planning and space allocation. It also enhances security by limiting interior access. A cardkey system keeps unauthorized users out—not necessarily because the research is proprietary, but because of potential hazards in the cleanroom and the research labs.

Project Information
Building Owner:		University of Texas, Dallas
Building Location:		Richardson, Texas UNITED STATES
Project Type:		New Construction
Principal Building Function:		Physics, biology, chemistry, electrical engineering, and neurosciences research
Project Delivery Method:		Guaranteed Maximum Price
Project Timeline		Mar 2004 Planning Start Mar 2004 Design Start Nov 2004 Construction Start Dec 2006 Completion Last known status: Completed
Project Cost:		$85,000,000
Construction Cost:		$61,500,000
Cost Per Sq. Ft:		$323
		About These Cost Figures
Building Information
Project Includes:		Biology Chemistry Cleanroom Conference Room Education Education: Physics Engineering Laboratory: Teaching Office
Total GSF:		190,195
Total NSF:		113,604
Efficiency:		60%
Building Population:		336
People Density:		565 gsf/person
Planning Module:		10'-8" x 30'
Office Size:		10' x 14'-6" NSF
Power Req:		Lighting: 1.6 w/nsf Equipment: 20 W/nsf Power: 12 w/nsf
HVAC Req:		1.67 cfm/nsf
Project Team
Architect - Design		Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP
Builder		Centex Bateson
Supplier - Furniture		Steelcase Corporate Industries
Profile Created 01/24/2007
Last Updated 10/12/2007
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.