Frick Chemistry Laboratory: Building for the Future

Jeffrey Huang, P.E., M.E., Arup
Barry Shiel, P.E., Payette

Achieving Princeton University's ambitious energy usage reductions required an integrated design approach for its new chemistry facility. The architecture, engineering, and program work together, and through a series of deliberate design strategies, create spaces that provide the highest energy benefit and reduce water consumption. During this presentation, the speakers will show the specific solutions to a number of sustainable features, while demonstrating compliance with health and safety, including the following issues:

  • Fume Hood Management and Operation: Low-flow (60 feet per minute), high efficiency fume hoods with automatic sash closing devices form the foundation of the low energy usage of the building HVAC. Proximity sensors on the front of the hood close the sash if a scientist's presence is not detected. With more than 400 fume hoods in the building, the laboratory wing utilizes approximately 70 percent of the entire HVAC energy. Using these fume hoods allows significant savings on the operational costs of conditioning of the outdoor make-up air, as well as the capital costs from downsizing the laboratory air handling units (AHUs) and the associated distribution network.
  • AHU Heat Recovery: The laboratory AHUs contain high efficiency refrigerant heat pipes that transfer energy between the exhaust air and the incoming outside air stream. Due to the designed configuration of the AHUs and refrigerant used, high efficiencies of heat transfer can be realized without the use of pumping. This passive system can achieve greater than 50 percent heat transfer efficiency.
  • Office/Atrium/Laboratory Cascaded Air Design: The office wing of the building is conditioned to typical comfort conditions using active chilled beams. Instead of returning this air, it is used to supplement conditioned air supplied into the atrium. The combination of the office and atrium air is then used to displace outside air from the laboratory units, with this cascading effect providing significant heat recovery.
  • Photovoltaic (PV) Array: A 68-kilowatt PV array is located above the glass atrium roof to provide solar power to the building. The array is oriented to provide the optimal amount of solar energy capture, as well as provide external shading to control comfort, reducing heat gain and glare within the atrium.
  • Rainwater Collection: Rainwater from the roof of the building (as well as AHU cooling coil condensate and reverse osmosis reject) is collected into an underground storage tank, which is treated and reused for greywater flushing for all fixtures.

Biographies:

Jeffrey Huang is an associate with Arup in New York. He brings more than 10 years of experience in commercial and institutional work, working successfully with owners, client representatives, commissioning agents, and contractors. Mr. Huang was Arup's lead mechanical engineer and project manager for the Frick Chemistry Laboratory, which included a diversity of engineering disciplines, including structural; MEP; fire protection; lighting design; acoustics and vibration consulting; and sustainability. Mr. Huang taught at the Pratt Institute and is currently teaching at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation.

Barry Shiel is an associate principal with Payette in Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Shiel joined Payette in 1985 and has more than 25 years of experience in the planning, design, and execution of buildings for science and technology. Mr. Shiel was the project manager and laboratory planner/designer for the Princeton University Frick Chemistry Laboratory. He has been the project manager/project architect for major projects at Payette and has extensive experience in academic research, including projects at Princeton University, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Brock University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the University of Utah, the University of Vermont, and the University of Maryland.