Turning Negatives into Positives: a New Animal Facility for the University of Delaware

Frank Warren, LAT, The University of Delaware
Marvin Kemp, AIA, CSI, CDT, Design Collective, Inc.

The presentation will be on Planning for Small Facilities and will be presented by Frank Warren, Manager from the University of Delaware's Office of Laboratory Animal Medicine and Marvin Kemp, Design Collective architect. The University of Delaware commissioned Design Collective to design a new 2-story facility for multi-disciplinary animal research. The presentation will feature steps taken to plan, program and design the facility along with lessons learned and the close working relationship built between client and architect. The Life Science Research Facility, completed in December 2012, was designed to replace the out-dated and under-sized facility housed in nearby Wolf Hall and was intended to support the University's desire to dramatically increase funded research of the Biology, Psychology and Engineering departments while potentially tripling their housing capacity. The facility contains housing for rodents and doubled the population of the existing animal facility.

Design Collective worked closely with the University to maximize the original National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant and State of Delaware monies provided. The original project was to renovate the existing Wolf Hall animal facility, the only small animal research facility on campus. $2,000,000 of the original $8,000,000 grant was marked for temporary animal housing. At the start of project planning, problems came to light regarding the decision to renovate the facility over designing for new construction. The 1970's era building had original systems, which meant large, systemic renovations would be needed to meet NIH DRM requirements. Other issues that couldn't be remedied included low floor-to-floor height and sound transmission through the building envelope. Design Collective looked at all factors and informed the University that while a renovation would make the facility more efficient, it would not materially increase their population size. It would also render some of their NIH grant useless, as $2,000,000 for temporary housing was enabling work and wasted money. The capital dollars spent on replacement or upgrading the systems in an existing facility could be better spent on a new structure. The University could also benefit from a vacant land bank adjacent to the existing facility that could be utilized to build the new facility. A new facility would also allow for program growth and plans for future expansion that the University hoped would be achieved as their research programs grow. Working with the University, Design Collective created a program that focused on adaptability, flexibility and growth potential. The design that followed then focused on maximizing the footprint available and planning for future expansion.

Biographies:

Frank Warren, LAT, has over 38 years experience in the field of Laboratory Animal Medicine. He has held positions at The Wistar Institute, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Sterling Winthrop Pharmaceuticals, Nycomed Research and Development, and Temple University. He is currently the Manager of the Animal Care Program at the University of Delaware. A member of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, he has presented lectures on safety and management techniques in the field of lab animal care. He is also a member of LAMA (Laboratory Animal Management Association), and The Delaware Valley Branch of AALAS. Frank has been awarded the Wistar Worthy Worker Award and the Allentown Manager of the Year Award.

Marvin Kemp, AIA, CSI, CDT is a project manager and Senior Associate with Design Collective, Inc., a multi-disciplinary design firm with offices in Baltimore, MD and Durham, NC. Mr. Kemp has 17 year of experience in programming, planning and designing laboratory facilities for higher education clients all over the south and middle Atlantic regions. He specializes in the programming and design of biomedical research facilities, materials research facilities and animal facilities.

 

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