Building High-Containment Laboratories in Challenging Economies—Mexico, India, and (Now) the United States
Ana Coppinger, Smith Carter Architects and Engineers
Rainey Bice, AIA, LEED® AP, Smith Carter Architects and Engineers
Sustainable biocontainment laboratories have become necessary infrastructures of our global landscape in order that we (the world) can align initiatives, strategies, and standards to effectively safeguard against epidemiological threats.
Economically, all nations are not created equal; developing world partners have significantly greater challenges when building and operating these facilities.
The objective of this presentation is to describe how the lessons learned from laboratories built in developing economies can lead to sound environmental strategies applicable to projects everywhere. The focus will be on research and diagnostic laboratories that present a unique challenge for energy efficient and sustainable design.
Taking into account the complexity of systems, health, and safety requirements, long-term flexibility and adaptability needs, energy-use intensity, and environmental impacts, the typical laboratory is almost five times as energy intensive as a typical office building. Operating budgets in developing economies are fundamentally non-existent; if strategies are not found to ensure minimal building and operating costs, necessary projects may not be built or worse, may be built but remain underutilized or completely unused due to lack of operating funds.
Albert Einstein said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
Projects in both Mexico and India, in varying stages of development and construction, will be referenced to explore strategies for lean programming: from reducing building area and mechanical heating or cooling demands to limiting areas requiring expensive wash down and decontamination protocols. This presentation will also describe strategies for zoning and segregating of critical spaces and services to allow for partial shut downs to minimize operating costs when the facility is at less than full capacity.
The presentation will also illustrate the principles of a collaborative green design approach to the integration of clear-cut, sustainable ideas. Content of the presentation will address these strategies in the context of overall site selection, water conservation, and energy conservation.
Biographies:
Ana R. Coppinger, a captivating and engaging speaker, has been a sustainable designer and high containment laboratory planner at Smith Carter Architects and Engineers for more than 15 years. Her project involvement in the past 10 years has been almost exclusively research and diagnostic laboratory design. She is conversant with the guidelines and standards for human and veterinary laboratories, specializing in animal health issues.
Ms. Coppinger received her bachelor's degree in environmental studies and her Masters of Architecture.
Rainey Bice, AIA, LEED AP, is an accomplished laboratory planner with extensive experience in laboratory and animal facility programming and design. Ms. Bice has specialized in the implementation of Imaging Modalities and other technically complex equipment within high containment facilities for clients such as the National Institutes of Health, Boston University, and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases. Ms. Bice has practiced as an onsite construction administrator for several projects at Smith Carter and is well versed in the art of consultant coordination. Her most recent work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resulted in Building 401 surpassing its stated goal of LEED Certification and achieving Gold status in early 2010. In addition to her design and sustainability efforts at Smith Carter, Ms. Bice serves on the Stadium Tax Allocation District Advisory Board in the City of Atlanta, which reviews and approves new developments throughout the community.