Healthcare Design - January 2014 - 56

Growing outside the box
That collaborative spirit extends into the open
lab spaces, which were designed to be flexible and adaptable, while bringing together
diverse teams, including biologists, computer
scientists, and geneticists.
"One thing you can always be sure about
in a lab is that it's going to change," Schmitt
says. "The worst thing you can do is box in
that change."
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For example, a conventional lab might
have three stationary lab benches in a row
with a sink at the end that requires built-in
plumbing and fume hoods. At the Gilgan
center, ergonomic dry lab benches (for
computational research) can be adjusted
to different heights and aren't bolted to the
floor. Electric and gas lines are contained
in service columns that can be removed if
benching requires reconfiguring.
Wet lab research, which uses fixatives,
preservatives, or solutions in experiments,
has a designated area a few feet away from
the dry lab benches and near the core of the
building, where necessary services for liquids, such as plumbing and fume hoods, are
installed for venting and draining of gasses
and liquids. This set-up allows researchers
to move the benches around and reconfigure the spaces when a specific project is
completed without disrupting any of the wet
labs or plumbing support. It's also cheaper,
easier, and faster to change, Schmitt adds.
Thomas Guarino Jr., project manager at
HDR, which oversaw the lab planning and
assisted with interior furniture and color
selection, says general research lab spaces

Contributing to LEED certification, the materials
palette for the project includes a minimum
of 50 percent wood materials certified from
sustainably harvested or processed sources,
shown here in the building lobby.

By the numbers
390 feet: Height of the 21-story building
with a mechanical penthouse on the
22nd floor
17: Total number of lab floors
2,000: Staff and scientists working at
the new site
3 miles: Total length of laboratory
bench top available
140,000 tons: Amount of glass, concrete, and steel used in construction
90 percent: Amount of building space
that receives natural light
112: Work spaces per wet lab floor
140: Work spaces per dry lab floor
150: Bike parking spots
100: Car parking spots
3: Electric car outlets

TOM ARBAN

spaces that span two and three stories,
and are connected by a shared atrium space
that includes kitchenettes, white boards, and
furnishings. These collaborative spaces provide a counterpoint to the intensive lab work
and are designed to foster interaction and
conversation. The curvilinear bay windows in
the atrium also bring views and light into the
space and provide a defining feature on the
glass building façade.
"You're not just communicating via an
elevator, you're actually walking up one floor
or down two; you're interacting around those
neighborhoods, and that becomes the DNA
of organizing the building," says Don Schmitt,
principal, Diamond Schmitt Architects.
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Healthcare Design - January 2014

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