The Life Science and Engineering Building is designed to expand Boston University's capacity for interdisciplinary collaboration. It also will allow the university to continue to involve graduate and undergraduate students with researchers, helping to train a new generation of scientific researchers to lead advances in the multidisciplinary sciences of the future. The flexible lab design in the new facility supports this interdisciplinary approach to molecular, systems, and computational research. Flexible design also means that space can be divided and allocated according to research interests, instead of along departmental lines.

"This leading-edge facility will support innovative and dynamic investigators from many disciplines who will collaborate to strengthen the University's position at the forefront of scientific research. A state-of-the-art science center that attracts private, corporate, and governmental research interests is integral to the long-term success of Boston University's science and engineering program," says Boston University Provost ad interim David K. Campbell.

Where possible, the various research teams and departments share common spaces and support areas, and faculty offices and conferencing areas are grouped together. Common areas include a 144-seat seminar hall, and a conferencing center that accommodates 50. A central receiving and chemical-dispensing facility serves the new building as well as the existing laboratory buildings on either side.

The flexibility of the building's design ensures that it will be able to accommodate technological change for decades to come. A basic, reconfigurable lab module has been developed and implemented, as has the basic building block of the floor plate. Lab casework is modular, utilizing "off-the-shelf" sizes wherever possible. The resulting space is easily convertible to meet the changing needs of future researchers.

A dense urban site, a small footprint, and specific area requirements for first-class research space made for an extremely complex design challenge. The resulting design fulfills Boston University's needs and delivers a building that is approximately 83 percent efficient. Although the slab-to-slab height is only 13' 4"—extremely tight for a laboratory building—services have been carefully arranged to allow for a task/ambient lighting scheme that can provide properly distributed, energy-efficient illumination.

Project Information
Building Owner:		Boston University
Owner Contact:		Paul Rinaldi, Director of Space Management
Building Location:		Boston, Mass. UNITED STATES
Project Type:		New Construction
Principal Building Function:		Interdisciplinary research and academic facility
Project Delivery Method:		Construction Management
Project Timeline		Mar 2001 Planning Start Aug 2001 Design Start May 2002 Construction Start Apr 2005 Completion Last known status: Completed
Project Cost:		$85,000,000
Construction Cost:		$64,400,000
Cost Per Sq. Ft:		$350
		About These Cost Figures
Building Information
Project Includes:		Biology Biomedical Chemistry Chiller Conference Room Education Education: Biology Education: Biomedical Education: Chemistry Education: Classroom Education: Lecture Or Seminar Hall Education: Life Sciences Engineering Laboratory Laboratory: Biomedical Research Laboratory: Chemistry Laboratory: Teaching Life Sciences Research: Biomedical
Total GSF:		187,000
Total NSF:		125,636
Efficiency:		68%
Building Population:		2051
People Density:		90 gsf/person
Building Services:		DI, N2, compressed air, vacuum, CO2, natural gas, carbogen, propylene glycol, processed chilled water loop, wireless network, acid neutralization
Special Equip:		Electron Microscope, Lasers, Robotics, Solvent Filtration Systems, Incubators, Centrifuges, Glasswash Facilities, Environmental Rooms, NMRs, Dark Rooms
Office Size:		185 NSF
Power Req:		18 w/sf electrical equipment; 1.5 w/sf lighting
HVAC Req:		330,000 cfm total building exhaust/supply (exhaust system is manifolded)
Structure/Foundation:		Structural steel moment frame on cast-in-place concrete mat foundation.
Laboratory Parameters
Lab Module:		10'-2" x 32'-3"
Casework Mat'l:		Maple and steel casework w/grey epoxy and plastic laminate countertops
Fume Hoods:		(27) 4' hoods, (12) 6' hoods, (11) 5' hoods, (1) 8'hood, (2) 10' hoods, (35) 12' hoods, (2) 12' walk-in/distillation hoods (1) slotted hood = 91 total fume hoods.
Biosafety Cabinets:		24 Biosafety Cabinets
Project Team
Architect		Cannon Design
Supplier - Laboratory Exhaust Fans		Strobic Air Corporation
Profile Created 08/17/2005
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.