Duke University Opens Expanded Lemur Center

Duke University opened two new facilities at the Duke Lemur Center in December of 2010. The $10.4 million project was designed by Lord, Aeck & Sargent and is located in Durham, N.C. The Releasable Building provides dry lab space and housing for 60 lemurs in a free range environment sited on 69 forested acres. The Semi-Releasable Building includes a wet lab for biological and chemical analysis and houses 80 lemurs with limited outdoor access. The animal housing wings radiate from a central core area that includes a food prep kitchen, a veterinary exam room, a laboratory, a bathroom with shower, and storage space for animal enrichment items and researchers’ equipment.

To create a stimulating environment and mimic as much as possible the lemurs’ natural habitat, the facility provides a flexible housing layout with different paths for the animals to explore. Each lemur has a housing module with 50 sf of interior space attached to 100 sf of fenced exterior space via a sliding door that opens whenever the temperature is 50 degrees or higher. There are multiple ways to house groups of lemurs and interesting ways for them to open and close doors to create different pathways from one housing module to another. The housing modules are grouped into various sized suites serviced by a double-loaded corridor. This arrangement allows DLC staff to isolate an area from other building spaces to control the spread of disease to or from a suite.

 Housing unit exterior ceilings and most walls are constructed of vinyl-coated welded wire mesh capable of withstanding repeated cleaning and sanitizing procedures. Some of the walls, however, are solid because some lemur groups don’t always co-exist together well. The housing layout facilitates easy feeding, cleaning, and maintenance. Housing modules include human-sized interior module mesh doors with human-only latch operation. There are also keeper runs in each exterior area with similar entries for humans. The walls construction system consists of concrete insulated sandwich panels coated with epoxy paint on the interior and a concrete sealer on the exterior. Glass blocks have been inserted to provide natural light. LEED sustainable design certification will be sought for the project, which features FSC certified wood laboratory casework and low VOC paint sealants. The project team included:

• Lord, Aeck & Sargent (Chapel Hill, NC office) – architect
• Stewart Engineering (Raleigh, NC) – structural engineer, civil engineer, and landscape architect
• Affiliated Engineers Inc. (Chapel Hill, NC) – MEP engineer
• Barnhill Contracting Company (Raleigh, NC) – construction manager
• System WorCx (Chapel Hill, NC office) – commissioning agent and LEED administration