Part I of this series discussed the different categories of large-scale equipment and the challenges to consider during design and construction, and featured the Advanced Research and Technology Building at the University of Virginia. Part II features two Stanford University projects and discusses the challenges of working with emergent and state-of-the-art equipment.

Lucas Center

The Lucas Center at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., epitomizes the custom fitting of a new facility for both emerging technology and state-of-the-art equipment. The facility was designed with two pieces of equipment in mind—the 7 Tesla unshielded MRI and the unshielded cyclotron. Knowing the type of equipment that would be used in the facility gave planners insight into the site selection requirements.

Stanford initially leased a facility off campus with intentions of using it to house the University’s cyclotron and MRI. However, to upgrade the lease based on the use of unshielded equipment would have cost $1,000 per square foot. In lieu of making such a substantial investment in a leased facility, a site adjacent to the existing Department of Radiology was selected. University leaders purposely did not choose this site earlier because they did not want to block the broad-view corridors and pedestrian walkways that linked the main quads of the campus. In addition, they wanted to allow for new construction on adjacent sites where the nearby plaza could serve as both entry and service to existing and future buildings.

"It was simply not a good place to put a new building above ground, so we decided to put the facility housing the research equipment below grade," says Russell Drinker, principal at Perkins+Will in San Francisco. "There are certain advantages to being underground because of the nature of the equipment in terms of creating the right environment and life safety. There are disadvantages, too, because nobody wants to work in a basement."

An underground environment was ideal for the equipment, however. The 7 Tesla MRI, which was being developed by General Electric when the building design began, stands more than eight feet tall and has a magnet that weighs nearly 100 tons. Although the National Institutes of Health and the University of California at San Francisco were also installing 7 Tesla units at this time, the parameters and requirements were not documented and consequently the design changed from week to week. A flexible design process was crucial to accommodate the frequent changes.

The design process also evolved around the special characteristics of this particular type of emerging MRI, which uses a huge magnet to create an image by generating a magnetic field. MRIs used in medical facilities are typically 1.5 or 3 Tesla and are shielded.

"In order to support their radiology department, Stanford wanted to install a 7 Tesla MRI, which was going to be the most powerful MRI in this size that could scan an entire body," says Rachel Lee, an associate with Perkins+Will. "It was going to be unshielded, so this meant we had to find a way to protect the people and to protect the MRI because the equipment is very sensitive to large moving objects."

The magnet at the Lucas Center is located 40 feet below ground away from the general public and moving vehicles, but additional precautions were necessary. Industry standard allows for one gauss exposure for the public and three for people in the building who know when the magnet is in use. As a result, the magnet is shielded with raw steel plates on the walls, ceiling, and floor. Approximately 550 tons of steel were used for the shielding, which is two feet thick in some parts.

"It was very important to have all of the team members on board early in the project because the shielding design was a highly specialized, proprietary design which had to be integrated into the building design," says Lee. "Every time the magnet design changed, the thickness of the shielding and the size of the room changed. Even during the construction, the magnet design changed a few times. This meant that an expeditious and thorough coordination effort was essential."

In addition to the magnet design being changed, other challenges were encountered relevant to the floor plans at the Lucas Center. The MRI is located away from the elevator with the proper shielding. Next to the MRI is a two-story area with a large hatch opening on the ground level to accommodate installation and future replacement of the equipment. A materials elevator is situated next to the hatch to transport support equipment that is controlled exclusively by the operators of the MRI.

The state-of-the-art unshielded cyclotron, which generates radiation and a small magnetic field, is located on the opposite corner of the building away from the MRI. Stanford preferred to use an unshielded cyclotron because it gives researchers more flexibility to create many different types of isotopes. Shielded cyclotrons produce mass quantities of a few types of radioisotopes for commercial use.

The space requirements for the shielded cyclotron are easier to address because the unit is surrounded by lead and electromagnetic shielding which contains the radiation. Standard walls and doors are used.

Designing a facility around an unshielded cyclotron is more difficult because the charged particles are accelerating and trying to escape. The common practice is to provide a thick concrete vault with a maze-like opening to prevent particles from escaping, but there was no room at Stanford to create a maze entrance. Instead, the cyclotron at Stanford is enclosed in a vault with a steel-encased concrete sliding door.

"It is important to have adequate time for planning, installation, and construction," notes Lee. "This unique door was only available from a vendor in Italy. The worst thing that could happen is that a door this size and weight does not work."

The necessary support equipment for the cyclotron includes expensive, enormous radioisotope dispensing units. All of the support equipment has specialized mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, as well as architectural, requirements. Intense coordination was required between all of the design team members, the contractor, subcontractors, researchers, manufacturers, and the University's environmental health and safety personnel.

After the functional requirements of the equipment were met, additional spaces were created for interaction and education. A light court with a glass bridge functions as the atrium of the building and a courtyard provides an ideal setting for many activities. A state-of-the-art teaching conference center features high-definition imaging and a flexible classroom.

"Stanford had a goal to do cutting-edge research in the facility," says Drinker. "It was important to provide a building that was equally cutting-edge in the design and technologies to enable Stanford to attract top researchers, faculty, and staff into this facility and retain them."

MERL

The new Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory (MERL) at Stanford is a flexible and adaptable workshop for emerging and state-of-the-art technology. University leaders wanted to bring together researchers who had been working at different facilities around campus and they wanted to create a mechanical engineering facility of the future for the department. In particular, researchers at the MERL will focus on microscale engineering, advanced design and manufacturing, robotics, biomechanical engineering, space sciences, and combustion science and engineering.

"The challenge of the project was the broad range of different kinds of researchers coming into this shared facility," says Drinker. "The first group we programmed was microscale engineering where the researchers were excited about developments in nanofabrication."

The microscale engineering researchers use atomic force microscopes and other highly vibration-sensitive tools and wanted a clean shop for nanofabrication. They were concerned about vibration from the nearby rail transportation system. On the other hand, the combustion science group works with equipment such as combustion bombs and pulse detonators, which can generate 150 decibels of noise and create intense vibration.

"The best solution would have been to put the groups in different buildings, but we didn't have that option," says Drinker. "We determined that the best use of the ground floor was, in fact, for the combustion science group where we could isolate them as much as possible."

The ground floor of the building also includes space for advanced manufacturing and design, as well as an area for project-based instruction. The second floor houses biomechanical engineering, microscale engineering, collaborative research space, shared areas, and a clean shop. A stiff slab was built to offer microscale researchers minimal interference from equipment that creates noise and vibration, such as the shock tube used by mechanical engineering researchers.

The shock tube itself presented design and installation challenges, and the key was understanding the details and complexity of the support and utilities. There were approximately 20 kinds of support equipment that had to be identified.

"While this is custom-made by the principal investigator, there were a lot of toxic gasses and combustibles that needed to be understood as part of the programming, design, permitting, and construction effort," says Drinker. "It's important to assemble a high-performance team to ensure you can handle the complexity of the instruments, capture the information in great detail at the outset, design properly, document the process, and obtain necessary permits."

Doing so requires bringing the construction contractor, specialty vendors, and principal investigators and their staff on board at the beginning of the planning process. It is also important to understand how code authorities and other external entities will figure into the permitting process. The method of project delivery must be considered as well, and the design-bid-build model seems to be the least flexible for assembling a quality team. Design-build offers an opportunity to get the team together at the beginning of the planning stage. However, design-build doesn't provide the normal checks and balances critical to ensuring the functionality and quality of the design.

According to Drinker, coordination between the design team, builder, and owner is essential and is best accomplished with the construction manager/general contractor at-risk contract approach. Putting the team together at the outset reduces risks and facilitates better coordination and cooperation among parties.

"Once you understand who the team is, you want to identify all the issues that need to be fully understood and put together a matrix of responsibilities and actions," says Drinker. "We go as detailed into this as we possibly can as early as we can. A lot of issues that come up during construction, such as who is putting the seismic bracing on, can be headed off early."

Conducting a complete risk analysis to establish who will be responsible for each aspect of the project helps eliminate confusion and budget problems as the work progresses. The huge chemical inventory at the MERL and the need to obtain required regulatory approvals had to be considered when designing the building.

A project schedule including appropriate contingencies, which allow adequate time to receive approvals and account for potential construction overruns, must be developed.

A full year for the permitting approvals was budgeted into the schedule for the MERL building because of the complexity of the instruments and the amount of danger involved.

"We knew the people at the county offices had not seen equipment like this before," says Drinker. "It was going to take a long time with a lot of expertise to walk them through how the facility was going to meet the safety requirements."

Safety issues surrounding the engine lab, which houses vibration isolators, a paraffin rocket, and a dynamometer, are especially important because the equipment could explode. Bullet-proof and sound-proof glass separates the lab from other areas.

All equipment requirements must be documented and data must be tracked regarding virtually every aspect of the project to ensure a successful installation. This information is eventually integrated into a comprehensive design.

"We have always planned adequate budget contingencies to allow for this kind of complex construction to happen," says Drinker. "When they move in, they turn things on and it works. That is a sign of success."

By Tracy Carbasho

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ISSN: 1096-4894