"Typically, the most common drivers in a new facility are cost and schedule, but not here," says Jerry Fry, Ph.D., Merck senior director, Administration and Planning. "Our primary driver was to create a building that will enable scientists to do science the way they want to."

In Building 800, that goal translates into specifics like sound-dampened lab modules with spacious anterooms for supplies and support equipment; clerestory windows that provide plentiful daylighting through the interior; a three-corridor system separating material handling from pedestrian circulation; several interaction areas to encourage collaboration among researchers in the building's three disciplines: process chemistry, combinatorial synthesis, and medicinal chemistry; and access to video conferencing from every scientist office.

In the background are a multitude of engineering decisions that facilitate another prime objective: longevity. By anticipating long-term operational and maintenance issues and allowing for future refurbishing, Fry and the design team have created a facility that should have a useful lifespan of some 75 to 100 years.

A Recruiting and Retention Tool

Building 800 is organized into two wings, each with three floors of laboratories and a penthouse for mechanical equipment. In setting and appearance— brick exterior and wood casework in the labs, for example— deliberately resembles the academic environments from which the company draws its new recruits.

"Most of the schools we hire from are in campus settings with brick buildings, trees, pavers, quadrangles, and so on," says Fry. "It's very helpful when candidates come here and are comfortable because the surroundings feel so familiar."

Generous interior daylighting is another recruiting and retention tool. Fry notes that recruiting is expensive, but it is even more costly to lose a researcher who has been with the company for four or five years.

"Our scientists said it was very important for them to be able to see outside and to have a view," he says. "Things that make them feel more comfortable or help them in their workday are very important to us."

A scheme of clerestory windows allows borrowed light from perimeter offices to penetrate across the personnel corridor into the labs. On the lab side of the hall, the clerestory starts about half way up the wall, roughly 56 inches from the floor, extending upward 24 inches. On the office side, the clerestory starts about 74 inches from the floor and is 36 inches high.

This arrangement preserves the privacy of office occupants while enabling scientific staff in the lab to get a good view of the sky. It also affords visibility into the labs, an important safety consideration.

"In the unlikely event that we have an incident in a lab, it's great if the rescue squad or the fire department can get some idea of what is going on before they open the door," says Fry.

The benefits of natural light were judged so important that the clerestory scheme is present in modified form even in labs that require more wall space. On the equipment-intensive third floor, the three-foot-high clerestories start at 74 inches on both lab and office walls. While this configuration does eliminate outdoor views and visibility into the labs, it at least ensures that scientists feel the presence of natural light.

Quiet Labs Reduce Tension

Another feature that makes Building 800 labs comfortable and pleasant is their relatively low noise level. In the design stage, Fry requested an RC (Room Criterion) value of 50, which would yield a quieter than normal chemistry lab. (For comparative purposes he cites typical desirable levels of RC 35 in a private office, RC 40 in a large open office, and RC 40 to 45 in public places like lobbies.)

Although uncertain this could be accomplished, the architect and contracting firms worked together to develop a way to tone down the lab noise. They achieved the target noise level by installing sound attenuation devices in the air ducts, some of which had to be extended to provide enough of a straight run for the sound to dissipate.

Fry admits that the solution required detailed planning of overhead space as well as additional expense, but he feels the results, although difficult to quantify, are worth the effort.

"I've been told this is the quietest lab the chemists have been in," says Fry. "Scientists do not feel nearly as tired at the end of the day because of the better than average light and noise levels. They work longer, so we get increased productivity. They've also told me they are more relaxed, and there have been fewer complaints of headaches and tension."

An unanticipated secondary benefit is that a fume hood with an open sash quickly becomes noticeable in such a quiet setting.

"The end result is that scientists typically close their hoods, which saves us energy," says Fry. "An eight-foot hood that is open for an hour consumes about two dollars worth of energy." [See sidebar, "What's New in the Hood."]

“Convertible” Offices and Collaboration

The office configuration in Building 800 represents a creative response to the classic challenge of how to accommodate a changing ratio of junior to senior scientists. Stretching along the building perimeter, all offices are standardized at 100 sf to 110 sf, and can hold either one senior researcher or two associates. With the infrastructure to support two occupants (dual phone jacks and data ports, mobile file carts, and two separate, color-coded key systems) already in place, an office conversion entails little more than moving furniture, a task that can be done in less than an hour.

Initially, Fry anticipated an average of two associates for each senior scientist, but the current ratio is more like 1:1 or 1.5:1. The trend, however, is to move toward the 2:1 ratio as originally planned.

Each office is also equipped with video-conferencing capability to facilitate communication with other Merck personnel around the globe.

"We now have 5,000 to 6,000 people on campus and nine research sites around the world," explains Fry. "As Merck becomes larger, the need to collaborate over all the different time zones is becoming more and more difficult. That's our rationale for video conferencing in the offices."

Similar thinking guided the installation of Merck TV in the interaction areas, which are centrally located at corridor intersections on each floor. The corporate network will soon be broadcasting meetings dealing with issues of interest to scientists. Instead of taking half a day to go to another site, scientists can work in the lab and then gather at the appointed hour to watch at least part of the meeting.

"We are going to get a huge productivity boost out of this," says Fry.

Access Equals Longevity

While inadequate or inappropriate office space is one factor that can shorten the lifespan of a building, other potential deficiencies include failing HVAC or sewer systems that can't be easily repaired. Anticipating the need for future maintenance, Fry insisted on free and clear access to all infrastructure equipment, along with room for technicians and their tools. An oversized (6' x 9') service elevator ensures that even the largest and heaviest equipment can be removed from the penthouse and replacement components brought in.

"Our maintenance people participated in drawing reviews and did walkthroughs during the entire construction period so any potential obstacles were addressed as soon as they were spotted," says Fry.

Access to sewer piping is equally important but presented a special challenge because the area's high water table makes basements impractical. Instead, the basement was "miniaturized" into a two-foot-deep by three-foot-wide trench housing the system's network of pipes, valves, and controls. Inspection ports along the top of the trench allow maintenance personnel to lift off a cap and peer inside to check on equipment condition or water leakage.

"We placed four-inch-thick, two-foot by three-foot concrete slabs on top of the trench, skim-coated it, and then covered it with an epoxy," says Fry. "My goal is that if we have a pipe break or need to make a change, we could come in on the weekend, cut through the skim coating, pop out the concrete slabs, fix the problem, and be operational again by Monday."

At a cost of roughly $3,000 per linear foot, Fry admits it was difficult to get the trench included in the budget, but ultimately the reasoning that it would be cheaper in the long run won out.

"You can imagine the difference in repair costs compared to having to saw, cut, and jackhammer, not to mention dealing with the dust, noise, and vibration and the challenge of trying to locate the pipes," he says. "This comes back to my desire that the building should be able to be renovated at a very low cost and last for a long period of time."

Other longevity features include epoxy floors with minimal penetrations to prevent spills from seeping through to the underfloor, and confining equipment and materials movement to the service corridors tucked in the building core, away from pedestrian circulation.

"Typically, where you have a combination service-personnel corridor, cart traffic bumps and damages the walls," says Fry. "Here, touch-up work to the walls has been almost non-existent because the corridors are separate."

Teamwork, Soft Issues Significant

Asked about lessons learned, Fry observes that cooperation and trust among all team members made the project flow more quickly and easily while producing a more satisfactory building. As just one example, he cites a phone call he received from the engineer advising him that some bumper guards about to be installed were not very attractive. Fry visited the site immediately, agreed with the engineer's assessment, and was able to choose a different option without extensive rework.

It's harder to measure the importance of "soft" issues like the relationship between scientist comfort and productivity, but Fry is certain that they enhance Building 800.

"It is extremely difficult in a value-engineering session to quantify the value of an interaction area or a clerestory or a quieter lab," he says. "What does that mean to us in recruiting and retaining scientists? We are going to be working on that over the next few years because I often think we miss the mark when we don't try to convert these intangibles into real dollars and cents."

By Nicole Stahl