Project
Down
to a Science

Seattle Children’s Research Institute
Seattle, WA, USA
The laboratories are separated from adjacent offices and collaboration spaces by full-height, fritted glass partitions, maintaining visual connections among areas at all times.
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With Research Building III, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, a leading center for translational research, is able to fully integrate computation with traditional wet laboratories to drive breakthroughs.
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With frosted glass walls that double as a dry-erase board, the two-story collaboration spaces are designed as hives of activity linking various departments and driving interdisciplinary research.
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Staff lounges and kitchens on every level are filled with daylight.
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The envelope contributes to sustainability, with a glass curtain wall facing north and east for indirect daylighting, and precast concrete panels where sun exposure is greatest. The facility is expected to achieve LEED Gold.
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Having tripled in size in only ten years, the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital needed to expand its capability to pursue cutting-edge research – especially as mathematics and computational science become increasingly important. Research Building III facilitates this with a unique laboratory layout and welcoming collaboration spaces.
The lab benches are organized in “neighborhoods” of four Principal Investigators each, clustered together with all ancillary services: offices, conference rooms, lounges, and lab support. These neighborhoods are linked by double-height collaborative spaces that prevent any one lab group from being isolated within the building. The result is more seamless integration between departments, such as the Battelle Center for Mathematical Medicine, a crucial element of the institute’s research strategy.
Designed entirely in three-dimensional computer models, the mechanical systems are expected to achieve energy savings as much as 30% over ASHRAE 2007 standards. These savings, so difficult to achieve in a research facility, are accomplished in part by heat exchangers that capture heat energy from exhaust air, and also by separating technicians' workstations from the laboratories, allowing them to have lower HVAC requirements.
The building envelope also contributes to sustainability. A refined glass curtain wall faces north and east, toward the existing campus, in order to illuminate the interior with indirect natural light. To the south and west, insulated precast concrete panels enclose the building where solar exposure is greatest. In general, floor-to-floor glass aligns with the laboratories to bring in maximum daylight, while private offices have more suitably scaled windows.
Currently the building is on target for LEED Gold certification.
AIA Ohio, Honor Award
Columbus Dispatch, “‘Green’ building designs pop up in state,” April 22, 2012
WBNS-10TV, “Everything Matters… Inside the New Nationwide Children’s Hospital,” June 7, 2012
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