Introducing Soft Factors in the Laboratory Planning Process and Construction of a Sustainable Laboratory
Carles Puig, High Identity Buildings, S.L.
Antton Altube Basterretxea, High Identity Buildings, S.L.
Adelmo Antelo, High Identity Buildings, S.L.
The term "sustainability" has been gradually incorporated into our vocabulary, being applied in organizational contexts and at very different levels of space and time. There is not only one definition for sustainability or only one way of approaching it.
It is about improving the quality of life through the integration of three fundamental factors: environmental, economical, and social. These factors are interdependent but must act together in any organizational activity and context so that sustainable development can be reached.
In the field of scientific facilities or laboratories for teaching and research, facilities have been traditionally designed, built, equipped, and managed without thinking of the resources optimization (economical, social, and environmental).
Independently of the kind of laboratory (chemical, physical, biological, etc.) and of the activity carried out there (teaching or research), when linking the sustainability concept to a laboratory, a series of features closely related to the previously mentioned economical, social, and environmental dimensions appear. This way, a sustainable laboratory must be functional, flexible, accessible, productive, safe, and environmentally friendly. That is to say, it must be designed for people, its occupants, or anyone who can be affected somehow by the activities carried out there.
In order to achieve this goal it is necessary to change the philosophy when designing and building a laboratory or a building of laboratories, developing the space from inside outward, that is, of the requirements of the working places to the architectonic concept.
To do this it is necessary to create a design team, where stakeholders are involved and can work together, establishing from the beginning the suitable parameters regarding acoustics, lighting, temperature or pressure, among others. These are called soft factors, and they have a great influence not only on the comfort of the users, but also on their activity, creativity, motivation, and efficiency.
This presentation shows some examples of developed buildings where these factors have been parameterized and followed through different indicators, as well as a practical comparison of the consumptions and costs of a sustainable building as compared to one of traditional construction.
Biography:
Carles Puig is an architect and expert in the construction of laboratories. He is the coordinator of the working group on energetic saving in the construction of the Campus b_TEC of Barcelona. He was a professor of architecture at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain). Mr. Puig works for High Identity Buildings, S.L., an enterprise devoted to the consulting, laboratory-planning, engineering, architecture, integral development, and facility management of laboratories. High Identity Buildings, which is located in Ondarroa (Basque County), Spain, develops projects for universities, research centres, hospitals, food and agriculture sector, and petrochemical industry.
Antton Altube is an industrial engineer in chemistry from the High School of Engineering of Bilbao (ETSI - UPV/EHU, 1995). He is chief innovation officer of High Identity Buildings S.L. (HIB). Former technical manager of a specialized company in planning, equipping, and installing laboratories, he has taken part since 1997 in the elaboration of some standards and technical reports both for Europe and Spain in the field of the laboratories, such as EN 14.175 (fume cupboards) and NTP 677 for the Spanish Occupational Health and Safety National Institute (INSHT). Mr. Altube is the present Chairman of WG4 of EGNATON.
Adelmo Antelo is the managing director of High Identity Buildings S.L. and S*Concept, and president of MAITE Foundation (Spanish organization for sustainable laboratories). He is also a member of the executive committee of EGNATON (European Association for Sustainable Laboratories). After more than fifteen years of experience in developing projects in the field of laboratory facilities around Europe, he created the enterprises HIB and S*concept two years ago, devoted to the consultancy, laboratory-planning, engineering, architecture, and integral development of scientific buildings for laboratories. In 2009 HIB won the award for the best innovative enterprise in the Basque Country and has promoted the creation of the MAITE foundation.