University Neuroscience Complex Integrates Laboratory
Flexibility with Sustainability
Roger Goldstein, Goody
Clancy
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Brain
and Cognitive Sciences Complex is the world's largest neuroscience
research building. It includes wet and dry laboratories, sophisticated
equipment, and a vivarium on a constrained urban site bisected by
a live rail line. Sustainable design was integrated from the start,
and the project is currently in LEED® Silver certification review.
Located on the edge of the MIT campus, the building occupies a
former brownfield site. Public transportation is nearby and parking
for 100 bicycles encourages environmentally-friendly commuting.
The building literally bridges over the railroad line, connecting
the two-part site in a 60,000-square-foot footprint. Special
foundation design mitigates the low-frequency vibration caused by
the trains, preventing interference with such sensitive equipment
as MRI imaging and electrophysiology apparatus.
Every design decision—including sustainability—supports
the underlying objective of creating an interactive science community.
Extensive daylighting and interior glazing not only save energy
but ensure that the occupants are visually connected with each other
and with the outside. Maximum daylight is achieved through the use
of oversized exterior windows, full-height curtainwall with fritting,
and a five-story sky-lit atrium at the building's heart, spanned
by an innovative tension-net cable-truss system. Laboratories, offices,
and social spaces ring the atrium with interior windows, and extensive
glass between perimeter laboratories and corridors provides borrowed
daylight. Occupancy sensors for lighting control further reduce
electricity use.
Energy efficiency as a design driver is apparent in the high-performance
wall assembly with full air-vapor barrier, as well as Low-E glazing.
The HVAC system incorporates variable air volume controls, heat
recovery on the exhaust air-stream, and reduced air volume on the
fume hoods via occupancy sensors. The building consumes 15 percent
less energy, on a square foot basis, than comparable Labs21 buildings.
Water management is a major sustainable feature. The roof drains
include weirs, permitting the roof to temporarily retain up to 38,000
gallons in a major storm. Rain water, along with reject water from
the pure water system, is collected in a cistern beneath the building's
entry plaza. This gray-water is recycled for flushing toilets; excess
water is gradually discharged to the storm drain.
The fact that this building could be successfully inserted onto
such a difficult site, and provide a sophisticated, flexible, appealing
research environment in spite of the constraints is a major accomplishment.
As a bold urban design and building design, it demonstrates that
cutting-edge laboratory design can incorporate sustainability transparently
and cost effectively.
Biography:
Roger
Goldstein's projects have included both new construction
and the renovation of older buildings. He has been a member of the
Goody Clancy staff for over 28 years and is currently one of the
company's laboratory design specialists. His current and recent
laboratory and research facility work includes: the Drug Discovery
Building at the Medical University of South Carolina, MIT's Brain
and Cognitive Sciences Project, a research facility for the University
of Connecticut Health Center, a renovation of MIT's Dreyfus Chemistry
Laboratories, the Neuropsychiatric Research Institute for the University of Massachusetts
Medical School, and the Koch Biology Building at MIT.
Mr. Goldstein is also the firm's leader in the design of high-tech
classrooms and business schools, including the F.W. Olin Graduate
School Building for Babson College, the Smith Academic Technology
Center at Bentley College, and the McDonough School of Business
at Georgetown University.
His concentration on life science research facilities has included
roles as a workshop leader for Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL), and
as a contributing writer to PKAL's Structures for Science handbook.
He has also published articles in the 2006 Laboratory Design
Handbook and Cell Magazine.
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