Overcoming Challenges for Green Design: Center for Disease Control Building 110

John Mlade and Deepa Tolat, Perkins+Will

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is committed to sustainable design and Building 110 fully reflects this mission. While sustainable design strategies were pursued from the beginning of the project, major project challenges were introduced mid-way through design. In light of national security concerns, comprehensive
programmatic changes were required to provide maximum flexibility for the rapid shift in research objectives, equipment and lab set up, and security. The design team responded by providing an advanced sustainably
designed laboratory facility that incorporates interstitial floors, wet columns, flexible casework, and appropriate laboratory lab planning. Each of these features enable the rapid retrofit and reconfiguration of the laboratories with minimal disruption to ongoing research in the laboratory spaces, while providing maximum health and safety to occupants and construction workers.

Despite the challenges, Building 110 has achieved high levels of sustainable design through the incorporation of advanced daylight strategies, materials selection, landscape design, and stormwater/condensation management that results in no potable water requirement for irrigation. Most importantly, Building 110 provides an outstanding healthy interior environment for which building occupants remain comfortable and productive. Having been completed and occupied, post occupancy lessons learned will also be shared.

Labs21 Connection:

This presentation will discuss the challenges faced throughout the design process as well as how sustainable design features were able to be incorporated into the project. Sloped ceilings in the laboratory spaces and interior glazing allows for the penetration of daylight deep into the space. Efficient lighting and daylight and occupancy sensors were also used to supplement the natural light. Glare is controlled through the effective use of exterior sun screens. The construction of the building employed over 46 percent regional materials and over 21 percent recycled content materials, with over 50 percent of the construction waste diverted from landfill disposal. The interstitial floors provide the opportunity for storage of dry goods, thereby creating additional space in laboratories, and reducing the operating costs of the building because storage area on interstitial floors does not need to be ventilated at high rates as laboratory space storage does. The savings realized from effective laboratory planning, efficient systems design, and landscaping design.

Biographies:

John Mlade serves as a National Market Sector Research Manager for Science and Technology Sustainability at Perkins+Will. Leading the firm's green building research in laboratory design, he regularly assists teams in the design and construction of sustainable laboratories and serves as a firmwide resource. His experience in sustainability and design extends from instructing university-level classes on Sustainable Business, Biomimicry, Bioneers, and Appropriate Technology, through the application of ecological design and green building. His degrees in biological conservation and green building afford him a unique perspective of the built environment. He has worked extensively in collaboration with the U.S. Green Building Council, instructed the LEED® for Laboratories workshop at Greenbuild in 2005, and has been involved in 6 LEED projects. He is LEED Accredited and a HERS certified energy auditor.

Deepa Tolat received her Bachelors of Architecture from the Academy of Architecture in Mumbai, India and her Masters of Architecture from the University of Mexico. Tolat's experience includes lab planning, programming, MEP & structural coordination, construction documentation as well as construction administration. She has thorough knowledge of engineering systems for a variety of laboratory types and works with the engineers from the early design phase to develop a well integrated building. She performed construction administration for the Center for Disease Control building 110 project and spent 2 years at the job-site.

Tolat's relevant experience includes Phase II of the NIH Porter Neuroscience Center in Bethesda, Maryland; the Department of Homeland Security- National Biodefense Analysis & Countermeasures Center (NBACC) Biocontainment facility in Ft. Detrick, Maryland; the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention- National Center for Environmental Health, Building 110 in Atlanta, Georgia; the American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York; Seton Hall University, Science Building in South Orange, New Jersey; and North Carolina State University- College of Engineering in Raleigh, North Carolina.

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