French Family Science Center

Dan J on November 19, 2023

The French Family Science Center integrates Duke University’s primary science disciplines with a mini-campus of five interconnected buildings. At the core a major new structure provides state-of-the-art research laboratories and support spaces for Chemistry, Biology and Physics. Additionally, the project includes undergraduate teaching laboratories, interaction spaces, conference rooms, a lecture hall, faculty and departmental offices. Key to the campus plan, existing and new buildings frame a new campus quad and the Science Terrace amphitheater with a visual and physical connection to the heart of Duke’s historic West Campus.

To allow programming and research priorities to be finalized later in the design process, a modular lab planning template was created to serve either Chemistry-based or Biology-based research teams. Laboratories, lab support facilities and faculty offices are organized in grouped clusters along and within a grand, sky-lit multi-story atrium that provides the building’s primary horizontal and vertical circulation. Generously placed throughout the Atrium are casual and formal meeting areas that serve a culture of interdisciplinary scientific investigation. A coffee shop—The French Roast—anchors the busy crossroads of entry and Atrium.

As Duke’s first project officially slated for LEED Certification, the University and design team met ambitious goals for environmental responsibility through the use of daylighting, energy management and recovery, locally obtained materials, and sensitive landscaping using native plant materials.

Biomedical Manufacturing Campus

Dan J on November 19, 2023

Our design for this biotech manufacturing campus added an analytical and process research laboratory, an administration building, and a workplace dining complex to existing production facilities. Project goals emphasized speed and efficiency as well as environmental sensitivity. As the original company factored the cost of facilities into the pricing of its products, every detail of the campus was thoroughly vetted for long-term value, purpose and operations. Energy savings through the use of heat-recovery and variable air volume systems, the appropriate use of natural light, and the careful choice of building materials guided the design effort. Judicious use of Colorado sandstone links the architecture to its high plains setting.

Design of the two-story 125,000 square foot laboratory organizes offices, interaction spaces and conference rooms along a sky-lit corridor. Open laboratories on the east side of the building place sensitive equipment away from solar heat gain, shaded by external fume exhaust towers. A separate wing houses the Process Experimentation Laboratory, dedicated to the development of new manufacturing methods. The administration building’s design reflects its representational role as the flagship of the campus.  A 370 seat dining complex provides varied gathering spaces for both employees and visitors with generous views  of the surrounding landscape.

Physical Sciences Building

Dan J on November 19, 2023

Marking the north entry to the campus’s Science Hill, the Physical Sciences Building accommodates significant programs in Chemistry, Environmental Toxicology, and Engineering on an existing parking lot, set within the dense forest of the Santa Cruz campus. A skylit four-story atrium brings daylight into the center and acts as a horizontal and vertical hub, freeing the connections between lab and office for the faculty. Laboratory wings allow for flexible reconfiguration by placing support spaces at ends of blocks. g Along main circulation routes, a flex-use band of spaces houses graduate student work stations,  providing views across the atrium, and through the laboratories to the forested campus beyond.

For energy efficiency, UC Santa Cruz policy restricts air conditioning to the labs themselves, and the design provides highly integrated passive and active solutions for thermal comfort. Using the atrium as an intermediate layer, naturally ventilated and cooled offices and with shaded, operable windows on the south take advantage of the site’s prevailing wind patterns. Sealed, air-conditioned laboratories are placed to the north to reduce heat gain. Offices benefit from a nighttime air flush  facilitated by the atrium, which functions as a passive thermal chimney, actively  drawing fresh air through occupied areas, tempering daily temperature  fluctuations, and  enhancing indoor air quality.

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