Laboratory Design
From the Editors of R&D Magazine
Light and strength. With the building’s
prominent location on a major campus axis,
the exterior design was important to the
university. Rising above a three story base,
four symmetrical towers are capped with a
distinctive crown, concealing mechanical
equipment. Exterior cladding of brick and
precast panels was chosen to harmonize
with nearby buildings.
The main entry was set back at the second
story to avoid overpowering modest
neighboring townhouses. The entry is
accented by precast cladding framing a
glazed portal, punctuated by a steel and
glass canopy; granite stairs flanked by
sentinel lights; and a fiber-optic signage
wall. A perforated steel windscreen on
the turnpike side shields users from high
winds. The symbolic 850 foot light mast
adorning the facade is visible not only from
the campus but also the adjacent highway.
The celebration of light is a prevailing
interior design theme. Natural light is
admitted by two story lobbies at each
entrance, and a three story atrium on the
seventh floor. Designers incorporated large
expanses of glazing into the labs, and
corridors terminate at bay-type windows,
where lounge areas promote interaction and
communication. Artwork manipulates
reflected sunlight and LED displays to
create expressions in colored light.
With its new facility, Boston University
hopes to help researchers make major
strides in exploiting the practical uses of
light, from ultra-violet to infrared.
Members of the colleges of Engineering,
Liberal Arts (including physics and
chemistry), and the School of Medicine
are now working hand-in-hand with private
industry to discover and develop innovative
applications in this exciting branch of
science.
In addition to Cannon, other key members of the
project team included structural engineers Weidlinger
Assoc.; lighting consultant RPM System Inc.; and
vibration and acoustical consultant Cavanaugh Tocci.
10/1999lab-design, cdist12/1999
Lab resources and R&D initiatives
Resources available to entrepreneurs,
industrial designers, and manufacturers that
form alliances with the Photonics Center
include:
• Molecular beam epitaxy lab for
fabrication of novel electronic and
opto-electronic materials.
• Picosecond spectroscopy lab for optical
characterization of materials.
• Near-field microscopy/spectroscopy lab.
• Opto-electronic component fabrication
facility for the fabrication of such
semiconductor and opto-electronic
components as LEDs, lasers, detectors,
and integrated optics.
• Communications lab, providing
instruction and demonstration facilities
for fiber-optic communications hardware
and systems.
• Magnetic and optical devices lab, for
research on applications of magnetic and
magneto-optical materials (particularly
for data storage and sensors).
• Fiber-optic remote environmental
sensors lab.
• Silicon micromechanical optical
components lab, where a variety of
devices (optical components, micro-force
sensors, inertial sensors) have been
fabricated, and where techniques have
been perfected for piezoelectric layers
on silicon micromechanical components
for laser scanners.
• Bio-photonic materials lab, where
bacteriorhodopsin and various mutants
are being grown and investigated for such
applications as signal processing, 3-D
data storage, spatial light modulators,
and holographic storage.
• Opto-electronic systems fabrication lab,
providing common design, fabrication,
and measurement equipment and methods
to support related development activities.
CASE STUDY
Boston University
Photonics Center
brings research to light
Uniting university and industry in a planned
“model partnership,” the new Photonics
Center at Boston University
is dedicated to developing and
commercializing products based on the
exploitation of light and other forms of
radiant energy. Photonics applications
are projected for many fields, including
defense, communication, medical, and
consumer products.
The 10 story, 283,000 sf facility supports
broad-based technological activity uniting
industry, government, the university, and
the surrounding community. The center
was established through a $29 million grant
from the U.S. Dept. of Defense, Office of
Naval Research, stipulating that design and
construction be complete within three
years. The university provided additional
funding, for a total project budget of $78.4
million, including equipment.
The university’s main goals in creating the
photonics facility were as follows:
• Establish and maintain labs and facilities
to support collaboration between
academia and industry in consortium
efforts.
• Conduct basic and applied research on
photonics materials, components,
devices, and systems.
• Commercialize photonics devices
(facilitate technology transfer).
• Prepare students for professional careers
in photonics.
• Promote economic development and
the competitive position of a strong
photonics industry.
“The market for photonics products is more
than $150 billion worldwide,” center deputy
director Shawn Burke told the Boston
Globe earlier this year. Burke
An atrium brings daylight to the center of the
seventh, eighth, and ninth floors. Interior art
installations emphasize the celebration of light,
such as this colored projection on the atrium wall.
estimates that the Washington, DC to
Boston corridor is home to about 1,500
photonics-based companies --- more than
any other region in the world.
The new facility supports photonics
R&D in engineering, physics, chemistry,
medicine, and biology. It features 235,000
sf of laboratory, classroom, and business
incubator space, as well as lecture and
seminar rooms and a photonics library.
At peak, building occupancy is 1,850,
including classroom seats, 115 photonics
research stations and 585 engineering lab
stations. R&D is broadly grouped under
the areas of materials, devices, components,
systems, algorithms, and special
instrumentation. (The sidebar, on back
page, provides a profile of specific R&D
resources available.)
Cleanroom and vibration-free facilities
are supported by telecommunications,
teleconferencing, and interactive data
transmission and retrieval resources.
The building also features fully networked
and multiplatform computing capabilities.
Systems include category 5, enhanced
category 5 and high-density fiber campus
network transmission at each student and
faculty workstation.
Building organization.
The great variety of required lab,
administrative, and support spaces led
Cannon, the architecture/engineering
design firm, to devise an organizational
scheme with several distinct zones.
Labs requiring a low-vibration, light-free
environment were placed in the basement,
where key mechanical/electrical systems
are also situated. Because the building
was shoehorned into a wedge-shaped site
bordered by the Massachusetts Turnpike,
vibration control was a key issue. The
floor system is designed to control both
internally and externally generated
vibration. Windows on the turnpike
facade use triple-paned glass for sound
attenuation. In the basement, optics labs
float on a six foot thick concrete mat to
meet low-vibration requirements.
The first, third, fourth, and fifth floors are
dedicated to BU’s College of Engineering.
Students and faculty have easy access to the
academic classrooms, labs, and support
spaces through a dedicated entrance at
street level, as well as an entrance linked
to an existing College of Engineering
building.
The second floor at the level of the public
building entry on St. Mary’s Street contains
classrooms and public areas, including a
In this instructional laser laboratory, the
“floating table” isolates sensitive laser equipment
from any floor vibration. Laboratories feature
large expanses of glazing.
200-seat lecture hall with
telecommunications and teleconferencing
systems. The St. Mary’s entry channels
non-academic traffic to the public spaces,
photonics research areas, and incubator
support facilities.
Upper floors are generally dedicated to
labs and administration. The sixth floor
is reserved for business incubator space,
including administrative and marketing sup-
port. The university provides space, equip-
ment, and expertise in exchange for a finan-
cial interest in the budding companies.
Currently, three start-ups are operating in
the facility, with more in the planning
stages.
The seventh and eighth floors contain
a variety of key lab spaces, which are
being fit out as researchers are assigned
to the facility. The ninth floor holds
administrative offices, a colloquium
room, a videoconferencing center, and
several labs.
Mechanical systems are housed and
camouflaged in a 10th-floor penthouse
and mezzanine. Rooftop mechanicals
include four air-handling units, steam
generators, exhaust fans, centrifugal
chillers, pumps, boilers, and three cooling
towers, as well as an electrical switchgear
and elevator machine room.
Lab and HVAC design Federal funding
mandated a compressed planning, design,
and construction schedule, but professional
Professor Theodore Moustakas, a leader in
developing “blue light” lasers, checks out the
status of a molecular beam epitaxy unit, a
device used to make advanced photonic
semiconductor materials in the Opto
Electronics Lab.
Level seven is a representative laboratory floor, combining prototype wet and dry labs with perimeter office
space for faculty and students.
staff had yet to be recruited and research
initiatives defined. In addition, photonics
research is a relatively new field, and no
single lab could be viewed as a standard for
planning or engineering design. Following
visits to facilities at Boston University,
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
and AT&T Research, the project team and
the Photonics Center executive director
developed four lab prototypes.
In the Opto Electronic Processing Facility, a student,
decked in clean-room attire, works on a reactive ion
etcher, an instrument used in making photonics
components.
The prototypical spaces --- chemistry/
biomedical, low-density electrical/laser,
high-density electrical/laser, and
computer --- are based on a common 20 ft,
8 in. x 30 ft planning module. Each
prototype was defined by utility/functional
requirements, related activity adjacencies,
and expected equipment layout. With this
documentation, engineering could proceed
on schedule, subject to refinement as the
project and program developed.
In the Quantum Optics Laboratory, a new kind of light
known as a quantum source, holds the promise of
ultra-high quality images of microscopic structures.
Research initiatives in photonics are
characterized by large, fluctuating
equipment cooking loads and ventilation
air loads. Four 110-cfm, VAV air-handling
units provide conditioned supply air to the
entire building. These units contain
high-efficiency filtration needed to provide
a clean environment and humidification
during winter and dehumidification during
summer.
A light-free Black Lab environment.
Heat, hot water, and steam are generated
by gas- and oil-fired steam boilers, with
a third standby boiler. Steam used for
humidification is not boiler steam, but
rather is generated in heat exchanger-style,
clean steam generators. The air-handling
systems incorporate an economizer mode
providing free cooling when outside air
temperatures drop below 55 deg. F. When
outside temperatures are higher, mechanical
refrigerated cooling is provided by two 600
ton centrifugal chillers with associated
cooling towers. A separate, dedicated
chiller system provides year-round chilled
water for electronics equipment cooling.
Laboratory exhaust is handled by two
roof-mounted 60,000 cfm central exhaust
systems that transfer exhaust from
conventional fume hoods, wet-process
laminar flow hoods, and other exhaust
sources. Each system is composed of a
plenum on which four 20,000 cfm upblast
fans are mounted. In addition, 12 dedicated
special-use exhaust systems were installed.
Hoods are monitored by the building
automation systems and will signal an
alarm when exhaust is inadequate.
Labs are provided with six air changes/hr
of outside air. Approximately 50% of the
air supplied to each space is returned to the
central air handling systems, and 50% is
exhausted. Re-entrainment is prevented by
high-velocity dispersion. Zero re-entry of
exhaust air into any air intake under any
wind condition was confirmed by an
exhaust-dispersion study.
Plumbing and electrical. Multiple
plumbing services support each laboratory
space, including acid-resistant waste
disposal, non-potable cold and hot water,
compressed-air vacuum, and 18-megohm
reverse-osmosis water (continuous loop).
Lab services are distributed in vertical chas-
es, with horizontal in-ceiling
distribution to benches. Ceiling service
columns, commonly used in hospital
operating rooms, were adapted for
laboratory use to provide convenient and
flexible umbilicals for laser power and
network accesses.
The electrical distribution system was
designed and rated to handle the harmonic
distortion caused by the high level of
technology in the building, including
Photonics technology is opening new approaches to the
diagnosis and treatment of disease. In the Photo
Imaging Research Lab, a postdoctoral research
associate works with a prototype positron emission
mammography machine.
research electronics, personal computers,
and variable frequency drive motor-control
systems. System redundancy was included
in the 13.8-KV electrical service and
low-voltage double-ended substations
to maximize reliability and to facilitate
preventive maintenance.
The St. Mary’s Street entrance to the Boston University
Photonics Center is set back to provide a more human
scale for the large facility. The College of Engineering
is served by a separate, street-level entry on Babbitt
Street, a former alley that has been converted to a
pedestrian way (at left).
The dual 13.8 KV automatic throwover
design met stringent local utility
requirements. It also satisfied the
university’s request that the switchgear
support the local campus in the future,
enhancing the system reliability of both
the Photonics Center and nearby buildings.
A 1500 KW diesel emergency generator
serves life safety needs as well as critical
lab applications, allowing proper cooling of
lasers during power outages. The generator
also provides the capacity for critical lab
exhaust and fire alarm/smoke control
systems, HVAC systems, special
environmental controls, and special and
domestic water-pumping systems.
Conservation measures. In such a
high-demand facility, energy conservation
measures were paramount. Low-loss
medium voltage transformers use copper
conductors and busses to minimize power
distribution equipment and line losses.
The lighting systems use energy-efficient
fluorescent lamps and ballasts.
Cleanroom and vibration-free facilities are supported by
telecommunications, teleconferencing, and interactive
data transmission and retrieval resources.
Programmable automatic low-voltage
controls, occupancy sensors, and timers
operate lighting in various building zones.
The occupancy sensors contain ambient
light sensors that turn off lighting when
daylight and/or adjacent artificial light is
adequate. Using common hardware,
occupancy sensors also signal the HVAC
system to reduce the volume of treated air
when space is unoccupied.