The National Institutes of Health, the University's largest source for funding the research center, places emphasis on multiple researcher spaces, requiring that the building design accommodate collaboration between scientists in related disciplines. In order to support this research, the building is organized around research "themes" rather than research departments. Research includes bacterial genome DNA sequencing, immune responsive viruses and cancer and tissue typing for transplantation.

BRC North includes laboratory neighborhoods (three total in the new building) which each contain eight laboratories in addition to laboratory support facilities, a biosafety level 3 core laboratory, a seminar room to seat 90, a conference room to seat 40 and building support space. The laboratory floors are laid out as a double racetrack, with laboratories and offices located on the exterior and laboratory support space in the center. The typical principle-investigator suite includes a 160-sf office, a 900-sf laboratory and a shared 280-sf flex area located outside the office. Each floor includes shared building and laboratory support spaces, a conference room on each floor, a secretarial area, a break room, a work-in environmental room, a tissue culture room, a counting room and a chemical storage area.

BRC North is constructed of a cast-in-place concrete frame with precast concrete exterior panels, dark bronze aluminum window walls with solar bronze tinted glass and aluminum "OU crimson" sunshades. The structure is four floors of approximately 25,000 gsf each and is designed to accommodate a future four-story lab wing to the west. An enclosed, all-weather pedestrian connector links with an existing laboratory building on three levels of the facility.

Project Information
Building Owner:		University of Oklahoma
Owner Contact:		Harley Campbell, Campus Architect
Building Location:		Oklahoma City, OK UNITED STATES
Project Type:		New Construction
Principal Building Function:		Biomedical Research Laboratory
Project Delivery Method:		General Contractor
Project Timeline		Feb 1991 Planning Start Sep 1994 Design Start Aug 1995 Construction Start Sep 1997 Completion Last known status: Completed
Project Cost:		$21,000,000
Construction Cost:		$17,000,000
Cost Per Sq. Ft:		$208
		About These Cost Figures
Building Information
Project Includes:		Conference Room Education Education: Lecture Or Seminar Hall Laboratory: Biomedical Research Laboratory: Research Laboratory: Wet Office: Researcher
Total GSF:		105,273
Total NSF:		55,363
Efficiency:		53%
Building Population:		180
People Density:		584 gsf/person
Building Services:		RODI, natural gas, vacuum, compressed air, steam, chilled water, emergency power, acid waste
Special Equip:		Environmental Rooms: 4 cold/warm environmental rooms, 3 work-in environmental rooms (ventilated), 1 cold room (biological waste)
Office Size:		10'6" x 16' NSF
Power Req:		Lighting: 1.9 watts/nsf Mechanical: 26.5 watts/nsf Equipment: 19.3 watts/nsf
HVAC Req:		2.98 cfm/nsf
Laboratory Parameters
Lab Module:		10'6" x 28'6" (900 sf)
Casework Mat'l:		Plain-sliced red oak with acid-resistant plastic laminate tops, epoxy at sinks, adjustable shelving on unistrut supports
Fume Hoods:		25: chemical fume hoods, 2: radioisotope fume hoods, 1: iodination fume hood
Biosafety Cabinets:		32
Project Team
Consultant - MEP Engineer		Affiliated Engineers Inc. (AEI)
Supplier - Biosafety Cabinets		NUAIRE Inc.
Supplier - Casework		Fisher Hamilton
Supplier - Fume Hoods		Fisher Hamilton
Supplier - HVAC		Trane Company
Supplier - Laboratory Controls		Phoenix Controls Corporation
Profile Created 04/01/1998
Last Updated 04/04/2006
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.