University Science Center
Labs, research suites and a glass commons went from shifting program to finished building under one design-build contract.
- Owner
- Confidential
- Location
- U.S.
- Market
- Higher Education
- Delivery
- Design-build
- Scale
- 148,000 SF
- Completed
- 2023
Teaching labs, research suites and a glass-walled commons that put science on display for the whole campus.
The university hired the team while the lab program was still moving. Fume hoods, vibration-sensitive research suites and a glass-walled commons all had to share one structure without fighting each other. In a lab building the exhaust system sets the floor-to-floor height, so the mechanical design had to lead the architecture instead of following it.
The approach.
- 01
Program fixed early
Working sessions with faculty settled lab modules, bench layouts and fume hood counts before the structural grid was drawn.
- 02
A quiet floor for research
Research suites sit on a stiffened slab zone, separated from the commons and the mechanical floors that would carry vibration.
- 03
Clashes solved in the model
Duct, lab waste, gas piping and cable tray were coordinated floor by floor in the model before the first hanger went in.
- 04
Every hood tested
Each fume hood was face-velocity tested and each lab air-balanced before faculty moved a single instrument.
The outcome.
“The scientists told us what the rooms had to do. We built the building around that answer.”
Preconstruction director, MarkWester
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