Accommodating Cutting-Edge Research in a Renovated 32-Year-Old Laboratory
Mark Frisch, Solomon Cordwell Buenz
Dana Ketchmark, Ketchmark & Associates
The Cummings life science building is an 11-story, 162,000-square-foot (sq. ft.) concrete/masonry laboratory and research building. It is located at 920 East 58th Street, Chicago, Illinois. This building houses numerous researchers of genetics, microbiology, and cell biology for the Biological Sciences Department for the University of Chicago. In 1999, the university set out to substantially renovate much of this 32-year-old building to a modern, flexible research facility.
These infrastructure upgrades include converting the building's main air handling systems to variable air volume, a 215,000-cubic-feet-per-minute laboratory exhaust system, new radioisotope exhaust systems, a high pressure exhaust riser serving a biological safety level 3 (BSL3) laboratory, a process chilled water system, new electrical distribution, new reverse osmosis system, replacement of domestic water systems, and integration of a state of the art direct digital building automation system to control and monitor the buildings functions.
Although research inherently requires flexibility, the infrastructure of the original building was totally inflexible and it became impossible to perform even basic modifications to the building such as adding a fume hood, since there was no infrastructure provisions to serve a new hood. The added cooling load from heavy equipment rooms housing large quantities of freezers, coolers centrifuges, and other equipment were impossible to handle due to high heat loads produced.
One area that posed significant challenges was the rebuilding of air handling units. Each air handling unit serves two or three floors. With one floor under renovation, one or two floors of the building still needed to be served by these supply systems 24 hours per day. A unique concept of "slicing the air tunnel in half" was used.
Certain specialty loads such as walk in coolers/freezers and various other specialty equipment required a reliable source of power in the event of a power outage. In order to accomplish this, a new 2,500 amplitude 120/208-volt, three-phase bus riser was installed, and a new electrical closet was created on each floor in a room formerly occupied by remote compressors for old walk in coolers.
The initial phase of the project has been operating successfully since June 2000. The results have been warmly received by the users, and have demonstrated that renovating existing structures for high-technology research spaces can be a viable and economical option to building a new facility. This project received ASHRAE Illinois Chapter's 2002 Excellence in Engineering Award for engineering design demonstrating innovative ideas and solutions to problems.
Biographies:
Mark Frisch is a creative leader who has spent his professional life developing an understanding of how buildings work and innovating on their integration into the natural and built environments. He is the principal in charge of technical design, where he overseas comprehensive technical oversight of the office, initiatives in innovative materials, systems, and sustainability, as well as implementing the firms rigorous quality assurance program.
Dana Ketchmark is the president of Ketchmark & Associates, Inc., Consulting Engineers, in Burr Ridge, Illinois. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in multiple states and has been LEED® Accredited since before it was popular to do so. He has been working in mechanical and electrical design and construction for over 33 years and has led the firm he founded for the last 15 years.
Ketchmark & Associates, Inc. has been involved in 12 phases of work at the University of Chicago Cummings Life Science Building, as well as numerous other projects on that and other campuses throughout the Midwest.