Super Science
Three New Research Buildings
Materialize on U of A Campus

By Scott Blair

The University of Arizona is greatly expanding its research and laboratory facilities with three new projects: The Thomas W. Keating Bioresearch Building, the Medical Research Building, and the Chemistry Building

 

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The University of Arizona in Tucson is going through a major expansion phase of its medical and scientific research facilities. Expansion of the Meinel Optical Sciences Building is nearing completion, as is the Roy P. Drachman Hall, which will provide academic space for the pharmacy, public health and nursing departments.

At the same time, three capital improvement projects totaling more than $150 million are poised to provide the school with even more scientific research and laboratory space.

The $46.1 million Chemistry Building will be wedged into an extremely tight space in the middle of the campus. The $65.7 million Thomas W. Keating Bioresearch Building and the $54.4 million Medical Research Building are challenging builders on the north side of campus with a project connecting two massive buildings under construction at the same time by two separate general contractors, right next door to another large-scale construction project.

All three projects were designed by the Los Angeles, Calif. architecture firm Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership.

Chemistry Building

The new 85,000-sq.-ft. facility will consolidate the chemistry instruction and research programs into one central location. The existing chemistry building will remain, providing additional space for the department.

The project site produced several challenges. "The building straddles the campus tunnel system, which carries steam, water and telecommunications," said Brian Brown, project manager on both the Chemistry Building and the Medical Research Building for construction manager at risk Hensel Phelps Construction Co., which has recently opened a Tucson office due to the volume of work. "Before we could really start construction on the building, we had to relocate a lot of utilities from the tunnels, and also reinforce them so that we could drive construction equipment over the top of them."

The building's basement is tucked between these tunnels, and covers around 30 percent of the building's footprint, Brown said.

The site is also located in a very congested area of campus. "Because the site was tight on real estate and they were surrounded on four sides by other buildings, the coordination of the project has been very critical," said Steve Grauer, operations manager for Hensel Phelps.

"The building has two bridges that connect to other research buildings, so there will be more campus interaction," Brown said. "They've created a mall area, what they call Magic Alley, with 100 year-old trees that line the north side of the building and create a nice interaction space for the science community."

"We recognized early on that this building would primarily be seen as a backdrop to the open spaces created by it," said Dusty Rhoads, AIA, partner with architect Zimmer Gunsul Frasca. "We turned the challenge of a tight site into a virtue, by letting each side of the building respond to its orientation and surroundings."

The eastern end of the building is clad in corrugated copper and is a backdrop to a new landscaped piazza. On the side facing Magic Alley, the building elevation is a glass curtain wall that offers views out to the alley yet reflects the landscaping. Offices were placed along this side of the building to take advantage of the view.

"To the south, the only side of the building that can be seen in the campus context, we used brick," Rhoads said. "But with a rich three-dimensional patterning that gives the façade its own identity and at the same time ties it back to the traditional vocabulary of the campus."

In addition, small square windows punch out of the brick in a regular but infrequent pattern. Inside, a long hallway is pierced with the occasional shaft of light from the windows, which occur both unusually high and low on the hallway's wall.

With the new structure, the first order of business was meeting the programmatic needs of the user group, according to Rhoads. "When designing lab buildings, there is greater emphasis on the mechanical systems. We must design for the current science, yet make the building flexible enough to adapt to changes in the field. We really have to be sensitive to the building's infrastructure."

"It's gratifying to be getting the user group what they have needed for over a decade," Brown said. "They have been waiting for this building for many years, so there is going to be a lot of very happy people."

Thomas W. Keating Bioresearch Building

The 177,000-sq.-ft. Keating Building will be home to the Bio5 Institute which brings together groups of researchers, faculty and graduate level students for the College of Science, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Medicine, the College of Pharmacy and the College of Engineering and Mines into a single facility intended to foster interaction and collaboration.

"This combined expertise for disciplines from diverse areas and normally housed separately will spark ideas and solutions that might not otherwise develop," said Bill Vos, project manager for both Keating and the Medical Research Building for the University of Arizona.

"The building design will also recognize the emergence of a new type of academic scientist, whose role it is to advance the technological cutting edge and who will make that technology available across campus."

Since the project is intended to be part of a new core of research buildings, it is interconnected with the Medical Research Building on each of its five levels.

"This was done to maximize space, reduce development cost, and eliminate redundant functions," Vos said. "Both projects were programmed to share as many resources as possible including the vivarium, exterior courtyard space with a large steel shade structure, loading dock facilities and utility infrastructure enhancements."

"Since the primary building material on campus is brick, we used that as our base material on the campus faces of the building," Rhoads said. "In the courtyard we introduced Indian red sandstone as a new material, as well as copper and glass to break down the scale of the buildings, provide visual interest and respond to the desert climate."

The south side of the building features unique angled windows that pop out of the wall's surface. Romanoski Glass of Tucson, Ariz. was the glazing contractor on the project.

"Stainless steel sunscreens jut out above each window and help break up the shape of the building so it isn't just one big box," said John Clays, project manager for the Tucson office of construction manager at risk Gilbane Building Co. "This building has some of the nicest exterior finishes of any that I've worked on."

The windows added complexity to the project. "There were so many pieces involved - 25 in total for each of the angled window sections," Clays said. "Before the first piece went in you had to measure everything perfectly, you couldn't go half way and then realize it doesn't fit. It took a lot of coordination."

The east and south sides of the building house laboratory space on every floor, taking advantage of these windows. "The office side of the building is structural steel, but since the labs have a stiffer structural requirement, we used a cast-in-place concrete frame to provide acoustical and vibration control," Clays said.

Able Steel Fabricators, Inc. of Mesa, Ariz. provided the structural steel for both Keating and the Medical Research Building. "The steel package included 64-ft. radiused pipe frames that enclose the stairways," said Mark Fultz, operations manager with Able Steel. "In addition, they were galvanized, so we had to fabricate them in short enough sections to fit them in the dip tank and then weld them together afterwards."

The building used over 600 tons of structural steel.

A vivarium will be located in the 56,000-sq.-ft. basement. Even though steam and chilled water is provided by the University's central plant, the wet laboratories and vivarium required a tremendous amount of mechanical piping and ductwork. "The basement contains some of the most complex MEP work I've ever seen - it might look like spaghetti, but it was all efficiently designed using 3D imaging software" Clays said.

Medical Research Building

The 135,000-sq.-ft. Medical Research Building will bring together scientists and physician researchers at U of A who share an interest in translational research to advance the understanding of the molecular basis of human health, aging and disease.

"MRB will complement and foster interaction with the genomics and proteomics research programs planned for the Keating Building," Vos said.
Both buildings have been designed with highly flexible, interdisciplinary research space configured with large open-plan laboratories, dedicated laboratory support space, faculty offices, open-plan graduate student workstations and conference space.

The two buildings are connected in a different style on each floor, from a narrow hallway in the basement to a wide expanse containing work stations on the upper stories.

The structure also utilizes cast-in-place concrete for the lab areas and structural steel for the offices. "The concrete frame is clad in brick, so it's like having two exterior skins," Brown said.

Since the building will eventually be part of a new precinct of medical research buildings on the campus, new design precedents could be created, according to Rhoads. "We took great care not only in the building designs, but also in the development of the open spaces around the buildings," Rhoads said. "We created a hierarchy of spaces from the large courtyard to smaller gardens to outdoor garden terraces at each level of the buildings."

One of the most striking features of the courtyard is a 300-ft. long, 87-ft. tall steel shade structure called the Keating Ramada. T.A. Caid Industries of Tucson was contracted to fabricate and install the truss superstructure and stainless steel mesh louvers.

"The ramada creates a functional and aesthetically pleasing response to the Arizona summer heat," said Kyle Peyton, PE, vice president of business development for T.A. Caid. "We fabricated and pre-painted the entire superstructure prior to beginning field erection, allowing for maximum flexibility in shipping, sequence and schedule."

The structure consists of 12 major trusses up to 180-ft. long and 24-ft. deep, weighing 40,000-lbs. each.

"There are 240 4-ft. wide by up to 37-ft. long stainless steel mesh panels, which are stretched between 3/8-in. stainless steel cables creating the shade ramada," Peyton said. "They are 50 percent open and resemble chain mail, and are oriented like louvers with the low side to the south assuring maximum sun blockage while allowing breezes to pass between the panels."

The Medical Research Building is scheduled for completion in early Summer 2006.

The Keating and Chemistry buildings are due for completion in late Spring 2006.

 
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