Diane Mcardle

Diane McArdle Mechanical Texas Laboratories Fort Worth, Texas

Texas Laboratories Building E is located in Fort Worth, Texas. It is part of a series of buildings owned by Texas Laboratories. The project is a design-build project that Ewing Cole Cherry Brott won the bid and began designing in July 2001. The building is 200,000 sq. ft. and the building cost is about 45 million. Construction began August 2002 and is scheduled to be completed by October 2003. The building is mainly used as an animal testing laboratory facility but also has office space on the North side. The steel frame building is only 2 floors. The architecture of the laboratory takes on a functional role. Tinted windows break up the red brick façade.

Texas Laboratories has a complex mechanical system. The air handling units have two cooling coils in each unit to overcome the hot climate. The pre-cooling coil that the outside air passes is serviced by chilled water for the chiller plant. The post cooling coil is serviced by a glycol treated chilled water. The post cooling coil was needed to provide the lab facility 66º F air required to keep the animals comfortable.

The Laboratory was built on sight that was previously a parking lot that serviced employees that worked in a facility adjacent to it. The architects incorporated a hallway the would link the new relocated parking lot to the other building to shield the employees from the hot climate. The conference rooms located in the front of the building have full skylight ceilings. The skylight ceilings were designed to give the occupants a break from the cooler darker laboratory areas.

My primary contact sponsoring me for thesis is Eric Joesten, P.E. Eric is the Project Engineer for the mechanical design for Texas Laboratories. He is an Penn State Architectural Engineering Program Alumni whom I have worked for two summer internships. Diane McArdle Mechanical Texas Laboratories Fort Worth, Texas

I believe Building “G” of Texas Laboratories will provide me with enough material to produce an interesting thesis. The three main reasons I choose Texas Laboratories is that I am familiar with the job, on good terms with everyone on the design team, it is a large facility that will give me more options to look at, it is a recent project and information is readily accessible. I looked at my thesis building selection from many angles. Since at Ewing Cole, I have been working with laboratory and hospital facilities in my internships so Texas Laboratories is a project that just started construction. The design process and reasons behind the design are easy to access. Since the engineers and architects are people who I have worked closely with in the past, they are willing to help me with providing information. The lead structural and mechanical engineers on the job are both AE graduates that understand the position that I am in and the access to information I need. I was included in the design process last summer though performing load calculations and bid drawings. The location is located south of the other mechanical students thesis which are located primarily above Maryland. After I approached my boss about considering Texas Laboratories as my thesis he told me that he thought the building would be the best choice.