Contract - April 2010 - (Page 61)

Anshen + Allen did a hypothetical case study on the design of the Stanford School of Medicine (opposite bottom and bottom). The photovoltaic roof canopy (below) defines the main entrance. A sectional perspective (right) illustrates the fully integrated design. frequent air changes can be fitted with high-efficiency air conditioning, while office spaces can be fitted with operable windows for natural ventilation. While centralized MEP systems result in the separation of office and research into different wings, the environment wall allows the intermingling of different uses, with a wet lab potentially sandwiched between offices. It is easy to add and subtract mechanical components as space needs change. Because the environment wall reduces duct work by about 75 percent, floor-to-floor heights can shrink from the standard 14 to 16 ft. down to 12 to 13 ft. The resulting cost savings can be invested in other green design strategies. Liberating the roof from supporting mechanical equipment frees space for use by people and renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic panels and wind turbines. Furthermore, it greatly enhances the roofscape and reduces the perceptual mass. Because scientists are working together in ways they never have before—chemists collaborating with molecular biologists, mathematicians collaborating with physicists—designing labs to facilitate interdisciplinary interaction is crucial. “Interaction screens” can define collaboration areas within larger spaces, turning a required structural need into an architectural component that participates in creating synergy. At the ends of buildings, instead of a standard egress stair, alternative double-height spaces with a circulation stair offer visual connections between floors, allowing researchers to be grouped vertically and providing informal spaces for spontaneous conversations that can spark new ideas. In addition to Anshen+Allen, the Science in the Age of the Invisible initiative team includes MEP engineering firm Rumsey Engineers, structural engineering firm Arup, and cost consultant Davis Langdon. The team currently is developing a group of institutional partners in different climatic regions to test the concepts and develop research laboratory schemes with hypothetical sites and programs. Ultimately, the goal is to create a design methodology that is scalable to projects of different sizes and adaptable to different climates and contexts. The first partner is the Stanford University School of Medicine, whose participation in a hypothetical case study brought an institutional perspective to bear on the emerging innovations being developed by the team for refinement and improvement. Initial design explorations looked at ways of expressing the environment wall as a thick doubleskinned glass wall, drawing warm air from a naturally ventilated space to create a stack effect. Color-coding the mechanical equipment allows it to become an instructive element of the building, integrated with the architectural aesthetic. The national average benchmark for energy consumption, or energy index, for research laboratories is 412,000 BTUs per square foot per annum—more than nine times that of a typical single-family residential home. Through the lean specification of MEP equipment, lean operational procedures, design innovations developed through the Science in the Age of the Invisible program, and site-specific renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics and geothermal energy, that number can shrink to only 39,000 BTUs per square foot. The next generation of renewable energy technologies could enable these buildings to generate more energy than they consume. Laboratory buildings that meet the future needs of scientific discovery with net-zero carbon emissions are achievable now. But to do so requires a wholesale redefinition of how they are designed, constructed, and operated, as well as used by scientists and staff. At the same time, these new research buildings also should be humane spaces that promote collaboration and serve as the backdrop for people to be their most creative. www.contractdesign.com contract april 2010 61 http://www.contractdesign.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - April 2010

Contract - April 2010
Contents
Editor's Note
Industry
Resources: The Green Scene
Focus: Land of Opportunity
Green: Post-Occupancy Green
Practice: Legal Green
Lean & Green
Environmental Extraordinaire
Above the Legal Limit
Informing the Masses
Luxury in the Raw
Designers Rate: Green Products
Process: Science in the Age of the Invisible
Sources
Ad Index
Perspectives

Contract - April 2010