Harnessing a Collaborative, Eco-minded Culture as a Force for Good Design
Dan Seng, Perkins+Will
In this technical session, the new headquarters for the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood will serve as a case study to demonstrate how laboratory environments can be shaped to meet specific cultural needs. The presenter will focus on three areas that had the greatest impact on meeting the project goals:
- Select a building in the right location: ISB was committed to finding a location that was connected by alternative transportation and near amenities that its employees could utilize. The facility in the "ideal" location was a second generation space in Seattle's vibrant South Lake Union neighborhood. The building had the added bonus of having been LEED® certified and equipped with significant infrastructure that could be reused. In conjunction with choosing a well-connected site, ISB implemented a comprehensive transportation management plan to ensure that commutes to and from work were not focused on single occupancy vehicles. The focus is currently on establishing a culture that increases the use of alternative transportation choices.
- Let culture drive design: ISB's vision for its new headquarters included the belief that systems biology must be built within a cross-disciplinary environment (one that brings biologists, chemists, computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and physicists together), all speaking each other's languages and working in teams to attack biological problems. They felt strongly that the design should facilitate "collisional" interaction between all groups. The existing space was initially dismissed as too corporate, dark, and compartmentalized, with excessive walled offices and poor circulation. The traditional academic research silos limited access to research resources and hindered the convergence of systems approaches to biology and disease. A primary project goal was to remedy these aspects of the building by creating more open, functional, and appealing spaces.
- When setting sustainability goals, use what you have: The majority of LEED points that contributed to the goal of achieving Platinum came down to components that were built-in to the existing building. For this reason, the majority of LEED costs were soft costs associated with documentation and commissioning and amounted to less than 2 percent of the overall project cost. The difference between achieving Gold and Platinum was the amount used to purchase green power and to document credits with a very sharp pencil.
Dan Seng is a senior associate at Perkins+Will. For nearly 20 years, Mr. Seng has demonstrated expertise in navigating the regulatory hurdles of the entitlements process for projects in the public eye. He is currently managing the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division consolidation project, under construction for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
As project manager, Mr. Seng recently completed the Center for Urban Waters in Tacoma, Washington and the Institute for Systems Biology headquarters in Seattle. These sustainable laboratory projects both anticipate LEED Platinum certification in spring 2012. Mr. Seng contributed his waterfront sustainable design experience to the team for the Point Wells master plan, a new 3,000-unit low carbon, mixed-use development on a brownfield site. In 2011, he was honored as the recipient of the University of Illinois Plym Traveling Fellowship. Mr. Seng's recent book, Sustainable Urban Development, examines new district energy solutions in Northern Europe.