Four Design Models Compete to Solve the Ventilation Equation
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), has been studying different ventilation design models to find the optimum air handling configuration for small-animal vivarium facilities. During the past six years, the University has implemented a range of different solutions in four different research facilities in a quest to find the "best in class" solution. Ideally, the best solution would reduce odor and heat load, provide optimal room temperatures to both animals and researchers, and accommodate a high population.

Facility Accommodates Multiple Species, From Mice to Pigs to Aquatic Animals
In the face of multiple uncertainties, it's a big challenge for an academic institution to design a research center for scientist-occupants who have yet to be recruited. Dr. Mike McGarry and his team at Arizona State University (ASU) grappled with a slightly different, perhaps more complex version of this scenario when planning a new vivarium to support a major expansion on the Tempe campus.

Charleston Southern University
The Science Building at Charleston Southern University is expanding the University's direction in both undergraduate research and in architectural aesthetics on the Charleston, S.C., campus.

Design Addresses Site Constraints and Changing Nature of Research
The Shelby Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building is appropriately described as the centerpiece of translational research on the campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

The efficient use of space in the Shelby Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building is achieved through the utilization of four lab modules.

Viable Solutions Involve Dynamic Changes in Design Paradigm
Using effective design and construction strategies is the best way to avoid being overwhelmed by costs that can skyrocket as a project progresses from conception to completion. Rising costs can be attributed to numerous factors, including labor shortages, industrial influences, a hot market for a skilled workforce, and the fluctuating prices of building materials.

LEED-certified Fume-Hood-Intensive Facility is Safe, Sun-filled, and Sustainable
Laboratory buildings are notorious energy hogs, and organic chemistry research laboratory buildings are particular offenders. Not only do these buildings commonly employ once-through air systems, but they also require a rigorous approach to ventilation to protect researchers from breathing the harmful vapors of the volatile organic solvents omnipresent in organic chemistry research.

Part II
Building research facilities to operate at the highest possible level of energy efficiency requires the implementation of specific design strategies aimed at maximizing resources and increasing savings. In fact, including certain design principles in the planning stages of new science buildings can result in a reduction of between 30 and 50 percent in energy costs, creating billions of dollars in annual savings.

American Family Insurance Group
American Family Insurance, the 12th largest property and casualty insurance company in the United States, recently consolidated it facilities and employees onto one campus.

Genentech
Genentech, a biotechnology research company, is looking to plan and design a building that would combine research and development in one state-of-the-art facility. The company wants the new building to differentiate them from other research companies and to help shorten the time needed to bring products to market.

Harley-Davidson Motor Co.
The mission of the Product Development Center is to foster the collaborative development of product designs and manufacturing processes for the future success of Harley-Davidson through the integration of new technologies.

Chiron Corporation
Chiron Corporation, a biotechnology company, as recently made the commitment to redevelop its 2.2 million-sf campus. The concept is based on the corporation's response to its urban context, and is inspired by the plan of traditional Mexican cloisters. A series of atria, patios, plazas and open spaces are organized around working spaces. The spaces, each one unique, interconnect with one another, creating a large multi-level campus of research "villages" that support communication and collaboration among employees.

ZymoGenetics, Inc.
ZymoGenetics, a subsidiary of Novo Nordisk of Denmark, is pursuing an aggressive approach to drug discovery centered on its core expertise: protein discovery and bioinformatics.

American College Testing
Located on the site of the original 1959 facility, ACT's new 170,000-sf corporate headquarters reflects the organization's growth as the nation's largest developer and administrator of educational and career assessments. The objectives of the design were to promote interaction between groups and departments, and to enhance employees' work experience.

Bayer Corporation
Bayer wanted to renovate a small, 12,100-sf production facility to use as a high-throughput screening lab. The goals were to create a flexible laboratory, provide for fast occupancy, and construct the facility cost-effectively. Recognizing the dynamic nature of science, the client also sought a highly modifiable laboratory.

NASA
The Space Life Sciences Laboratory (SLSL) is a 100,000-sf life sciences laboratory and administrative building located at NASA Kennedy Space Center. The facility consolidates most life sciences activities at the Kennedy Space Station in one location, and provides research areas, principal investigator offices, and technical space to support the controlled Ecological Life Support System Program, the Life Sciences Flight Experiments, and other biological laboratory efforts.

University of Connecticut
The "UConn 2000 Initiative" was a $2-billion effort to reshape University of Connecticut campuses and return to the traditional New England image the University once enjoyed. New buildings and remodeled older buildings contributed to establishing an academic aesthetic rooted in the institution's East Coast tradition.

University of Wisconsin
The University of Wisconsin College of Engineering wanted a new facility that would promote interdisciplinary activity. The Engineering Centers is a multi-disciplinary interactive teaching and learning facility. Functional space includes research labs and cleanrooms, offices, student shop and project spaces, and smaller presentation spaces for graduate and undergraduate students.

University of Wisconsin-Madison
The University of Wisconsin instructional greenhouses create a striking entry to the plant sciences department and prominently front the major east/west pedestrian route through campus.