The lab program is distributed into three lab blocks, each five storeys high. These are composed of flexible wet and dry labs and shared lab support space with offices and meeting rooms distributed at each end of the labs. The blocks are bridged together to form two large, skylit atria. Each atrium has an elevator and washroom core to distribute circulation capacity, reinforce the building's clear disposition of program, and orient visitors.

A wide internal colonnade is the central organizing device on the main floor. This internal street is oriented parallel to the natural east-west campus travel paths, provides a clear address to the building, and provides easy recognition of the lab blocks, the various lecture theatres, and administrative functions.

The two lower levels with interstitial floors house major mechanical and electrical rooms, highly specialized containment laboratories, a gross anatomy teaching lab, plastination rooms and morgue, 96,000-sf vivarium, 8,000-sf enhanced BSL-2 facility including a Prion lab, 5,500-sf BSL-3 facility (3 zones), 1,500-sf 7.3 Tesla MRI facility for small animals, a 5,000-sf imaging facility with electron microscope facilities and a 400 MHz NMR spectrometer, materials management, administration, and building management areas. The materials management area is carefully designed to provide dedicated and secure vehicular access for a variety of trucks, ambulance, and service vehicles, while monitoring security and containment issues relating to the handling and storage of hazardous and security sensitive materials.

The Life Sciences Centre has been awarded USGBC LEED™ Gold certification. It is one of only a few lab buildings in North America to receive this designation. Energy modeling was used extensively from initial site planning and massing design to envelope; mechanical & electrical systems were specified to ensure appropriate consideration of first time capital expense against life cycle costing models. Zoned offices are equipped with operable windows, thermostat control for maximum environmental control with minimal cost, and a cascading air supply (offices to lab) which reuses clean office exhaust air to create negative pressure in the lab areas reducing the need for exterior conditioned air. In addition, demolition and construction methods were specified to encourage recycling, lessen environmental impact, and to ensure best possible air quality from demolition to commissioning and occupancy.

Project Information
Building Owner:		University of British Columbia Properties Trust
Building Location:		Vancouver, British Columbia CANADA
Project Type:		New Construction
Principal Building Function:		Research and academic facility
Project Delivery Method:		Construction Management
Project Timeline		Mar 2002 Planning Start Mar 2002 Design Start Jun 2002 Construction Start Nov 2004 Completion Last known status: Completed
Construction Cost:		$92,803,000
Cost Per Sq. Ft:		$168
		About These Cost Figures
Building Information
Project Includes:		Atrium Biochemistry Biocontainment Biology Chemistry Cleanroom Education Education: Biomedical Education: Lecture Or Seminar Hall Education: Library Education: Life Sciences Genomics Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory: Biomedical Research Laboratory: Dry And Wet Laboratory: Research Life Sciences Office: Researcher Research Research: Biomedical Vivarium
Total GSF:		556,000
Project Team
Architect		Diamond and Schmitt Architects Inc.
Supplier - Accoustical Ceiling Tile		Armstrong World Industries
Supplier - Air Valves		Phoenix Controls Corporation
Supplier - Animal Enclosures		Edstrom Industries Inc.
Supplier - Biosafety Cabinets		NUAIRE Inc.
Supplier - Building Automation Controls		Siemens Building Technologies
Supplier - Laboratory Exhaust Fans		Strobic Air Corporation
Supplier - Sterilizers		Getinge USA Inc.
Profile Created 10/18/2005
Last Updated 05/30/2006
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.