Located in the heart of the Texas Medical Center, M.D. Anderson is one of the nation's first comprehensive cancer centers, conducting patient care and performing cancer research, prevention, and education. Over the next year, the facility is expected to grow to include more than 15,000 physicians, scientists, staff, and trainees, two-thirds of which will be involved in the direct care of more than 60,000 cancer patients housed in facilities that span in excess of two million square feet.

In order to meet the needs of an increasing number of faculty members and patients, a changing culture, aging facilities, and the demands of new technology, M.D. Anderson is in the midst of capital renewal and replacement projects. Mechanical upgrades to address today's technology are taking place in existing facilities and new biomedical research buildings, ambulatory patient care, and cancer prevention buildings are being constructed. The construction and renovation projects are part of a strategic plan that calls for the realignment of 10 basic science departments and nine clinical divisions with 38 research departments within several campuses over the next few years.

"Our bench-to-bedside patient care and academic research culture has been both the key to our success and the limit to our future growth," says Julia Collins, program director for research and educational facilities. "We've become a victim of our own success because we have now outgrown our main campus where hospital, clinical, and research space is contiguous and we've outstripped the capacity of our utility infrastructure that in some cases is over 50 years old. We must now face the daunting task of moving both research and clinical components out of our main campus site, while striving to maintain close and integrated working relationships between the hospital, clinic, and research environments.

"Doing this well is critical to our continued success in taking advantage of the exciting opportunities that exist between the research discoveries produced in the laboratories, especially those of the biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and computational science laboratories, and our patient care environment. This interface between laboratory discovery and its ultimate application in cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention is at the very core of our translational research efforts."

Addressing the Need for More Space

Achieving the realignment requires both adaptable and flexible space that can address not only the traditional laboratory disciplines, but also the interdisciplinary sciences and support for translational research. To assist in that effort, M.D. Anderson decided to construct a commercial-grade facility on its South Campus for its initial effort in bringing basic and clinical departments together as quickly as possible.

"We were able to jump-start the design process with the design team once the project was approved by the Texas Higher Education Board of Regents because we had a masterplan for the South Campus, had prototyped a number of flexible working laboratory and laboratory support modules, and had recently benchmarked our needs against other commercial-grade research facilities," explains Collins. "This experience allowed us to quickly move into a shell and core design package for a four-story building that featured 133,000 sf of space for offices, labs, and lab support areas that could be modified to suit future build-out needs."

A design-build contractor, H&M Co. of Jackson, Tenn., was selected in August 2000. Construction began in early 2001 and the building, including the build-out package customized for a major basic science department, was occupied in June 2003. Although the research facility is located only 1½ miles from the main campus, the clinical research departments identified for the facility were at first very reluctant to move from the main campus. Providing a first-class facility with flexible, efficient work space, open laboratories with a near 1:1 support, laboratory mix, collocated offices, and enhanced opportunities for collaboration with a basic science core group convinced the clinician-scientists that a move to this facility was a positive step.

Confronting the Challenges

The design team not only had to address the 100 percent outside air requirement for these 24/7 laboratories, but also the importance of priceless patient samples, as well as biohazards, carcinogens, and hazardous agents. Grouping the offices in a single zone permitted the designers to use the office return air system to help feed the two laboratory air handlers, thus saving energy by not having to pre-treat all of the outside air laboratory zones during operation. Two 50-kw generators provided emergency power for all of the life safety, building systems, including all of the ducted hoods and biological safety cabinets, and critical equipment needs (environmental rooms, -80° freezers, incubators and similar critical equipment). Infrastructure needs also included a service elevator and two passenger elevators.

The exhaust systems consist of redundant fans for manifolded general exhaust, chemical fume hoods, and Class II Type B1 biological safety cabinets. A separate system is in place for Class II Type B2, radioisotope, and two BSL-1 cabinets, and space was left in the chase for future special exhaust systems (perchloric) should it be required in the future. A building automation system and an integral critical alarm system control the variable volume building with independent monitors for all equipment on emergency power.

The design features a number of details unique to the M.D. Anderson facilities. While the executive vision for the facility included open laboratories to enhance collaborative, interdisciplinary research, there were a number of researchers who preferred closed laboratories and dedicated support space. A compromise solution was reached by providing channels along each 11-foot laboratory module to receive five-foot wide glass partition panels to separate the space for independent researchers. These panels slip into a channel provided on the overhead carriers and provide three levels of transparency: the top third is clear or lightly patterned, a middle panel of fretted glass patterned similar to the good-neighbor fence, and the bottom third is laminate to reduce the possibility for breakage in the kick zone.

Overhead service carriers and moveable heavy-duty equipment racks complete the features that enhance flexibility without compromising the need for dedicated or investigator-assigned space.

"The space with its floor-to-ceiling exterior windows, light and colorful color scheme is a welcome change from the windowless and enclosed spaces that many of these researchers used to work in," says Collins. "Open labs with no partition walls and an emphasis on interaction and collegial interchange represent a major cultural change for an academic center with space traditionally linked to departmental assignments, professional rank, and tenure. It's been difficult for us to quickly respond to the department chair and researcher needs. Fixed walls limit our ability to respond quickly to researcher and program needs, especially with the arrival of new robotics, some of the high throughput technology systems, and the tremendous staffing growth we have experienced during the past few years.

"Equally challenging for our department heads is their need to modify space assignments when space needs, equipment, faculty, funding, or research teams change," she continues. "The open labs, moveable partition walls, casework, and the overhead service carrier have enabled us all to respond much more readily."

The new racks also mean that the researcher can quickly modify his or her environment for most new equipment without having to wait for physical plant staff to redesign and renovate.

"We also know that flexibility is critical when you do not know the specific program occupants you will match to the facility," says Collins. "We've found that the design has been well accepted and staff likes the collaboration, openness, and camaraderie this design facilitates. They also like the ready access to shared equipment and core resources."

The heavy-duty moveable equipment rack has also been well received. The units come in three-, four-, or five-foot widths, have a combination caster/leveler, and come in a wide variety of configurations that include both suspended and mobile base, and wall cabinets. These units were assembled off-site, delivered, and rolled into predetermined configurations by the vendor with no coordination of plumbing or electrical services needed. This feature enabled M.D. Anderson to commission the entire building without the moveable casework in place and delay delivery of racks until they were needed.

"Because recruitment space could be programmed in real time, we were able to plan for new, major equipment without removing any fixed casework and have only the casework needed delivered just prior to move-in," notes Collins. "By coordinating the program plan and working out the details with the manufacturer representatives, we were able to fully outfit a floor with casework in 24 hours. Everyone was astonished and very pleased."

Having a design that offsets the planning grid from the structural grid has also been a major improvement in post-occupancy operations. The offset provided easy access ways for drains, pipes, and vents (e.g., for additional sinks) without having to core structural beams. Since the overhead service carriers include three separate channels for emergency, normal, and 24-volt power with the piping systems positioned below, services can be quickly run where needed without major disruption to the rest of the laboratory.

"Over the years, we have struggled with delivery of services to benches, constructed numerous working mock-ups with commercially available systems, and worked with several manufacturers to provide inexpensive and flexible utility delivery systems," says Collins. "For this project, it turned out to be more cost-effective to have the system constructed by the contractor than to use a commercially available carrier."

The support laboratories included environmental rooms, dark rooms, chemical fume hood, radioisotope rooms, BL2 tissue culture, and flex rooms that are capable of being readily converted into several support functions, such as imaging, microscope, stock and weigh rooms, informatics support, etc. Thirty percent of the support lab is flex space that can be adapted to special needs research support.

There is also central support for the building that includes a central glassware room, chemical stores, a cell irradiator room, and a central liquid nitrogen freezer room, all located on the first floor. In addition, there are ancillary support functions, including biohazard staging, a central monitoring room, safety office emergency response room, and a supervisor's office for deliveries and the materials management.

Four conference rooms with videoconferencing capabilities are available for occupant and institutional use that includes conferences, training, seminars, classes, vendor shows, and departmental function. Researchers and other building occupants can gather for social time, play ping-pong, or discuss the latest discovery over tea in the fourth-floor tearoom and library. A Starbucks coffee and snack bar, located on the first floor where occupants enter the facility, provides an impromptu meeting area, as well as an alternative to hospital food. Outside seating and pleasant landscaping enhance the exterior areas.

Lessons Learned

"Words of wisdom: much of what we've provided comes from merely observing how the researcher has adapted workspace in the laboratory. For example, researchers showed us that fixed casework was no longer working with the newer equipment. They were moving expensive equipment onto glassware lab carts or stacking it on boxes on the floor because it neither fit on the countertop nor was there room on the bench below the shelving or wall cabinets," says Collins. "Switching to the rack-based casework enables them to suspend, or otherwise move out of the way, most of their computers, keyboards, and monitors. It also gives them the ability to create equipment banks by utilizing the vertical plane of the bench rather than spreading them out on the standard fixed workbench.

"Be on the lookout for adaptations and changes that are already occurring in your space and find ways to adapt to their needs," she advises. "Because we can now greatly increase the amount of equipment that can be supported in the same amount of square footage, we now need to build flexibility into the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems in order to address the life of the building, not just the day the building opens."

M.D. Anderson planners learned that it is important to leave rights of way to accommodate equipment and service, both at the overhead carriers and within the laboratory itself. The 11-foot planning module provides a five-foot aisle when the racks are placed parallel along the sides of the planning module. To ensure that the requisite 32- to 36-inch hallway is maintained even when the racks are configured back-to-back, it was decided early on not to exceed the five-foot width in racks. In addition, the ghost corridor that runs perpendicular to the laboratory module is extra wide so that the five-foot aisle is maintained throughout the entire floor.

The uneven three-foot standard plus 18-inch operable leaf doors make it easy to move equipment through the corridors of the South Campus Research Building.

Closely monitoring the science that researchers may need to conduct their work is another critical aspect of planning flexible laboratories. The new building at M.D. Anderson can support BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratory work in addition to major core facilities, including a major cell sorter center, proteomics and soon, nanoscale "lab-on-a chip" research programs.

"The devil really is in the details and the thing that will make or break your project is sweating the small stuff," says Collins. "I suggest that you dedicate a person, not your project manager, to sweating out the researchers' needs. You are moving very quickly on these design build projects and someone needs to address the small details while the contractor and your project manager handle the construction. It helps to have someone familiar with the research and the science you hope to support."

by Tracy Carbasho

We welcome your Questions and Comments

Copyright 2008 Tradeline Inc.
All Rights Reserved
ISSN: 1096-4894