THOUGHT LEADERSHIP SERIES INNOVATION SPOTLIGHT

REVOLUTIONIZING A UNIVERSITY’S HISTORIC LAB RENOVATION PROCESS STERLING CHEMISTRY LABORATORY RENOVATION

PROJECT DATA Project at a Glance

Location Higher education facilities around the US are facing the New Haven, Connecticut challenge of aging laboratories inside existing buildings — some with historical value and importance to the campus fabric. Completed One such laboratory building that faced this challenge was the August 5, 2016 Sterling Chemistry Lab (SCL) located on Yale University’s Science Hill. With an increased emphasis on improving STEM teaching Total Gross Size at Yale, this building underwent a major interior transformation 93,893 ft² / 8,723 m² while still preserving the historic exterior architecture. Total Cost In a bold approach to sustainability and preservation, the $85 Million design carved out the building interior, inserted state-of-the- art chemistry and biology labs and married the new STEM environment with the existing building shell. Science is at the forefront of the design and is on display throughout, showing the student body and prospective students Yale’s commitment to STEM education. Ultimately, this renovation helps the university enhance STEM teaching principles through collaborative learning spaces and hands-on approaches to science education. The project is pursuing LEED certification, anticipating Gold.

Building off an Historic Background

Designed by architect William Adams Delano and completed in 1923, the SCL still remains the largest Gothic style building on Science Hill. As the final laboratory building completed 1 on Yale’s campus prior to World War II, the existing building structure is steel, reinforced concrete and masonry, with a brick and brownstone exterior skin. The building perimeter consists of a two-story head house at the south and three story structures along the east and west.

The north end is capped by and connected to the Kline Chemistry Lab (KCL) building, which was constructed in 1963 2 and recently underwent a comprehensive renovation. 1 Historic exterior; 2 Sawtooth aerial Prior to demolition activities associated with this project, the center of the building was occupied by a two-story, approximately 46,400 gsf, steel structure enclosed by a system of saw-tooth skylights which had been covered with spray-on insulation and roofing that was in a deteriorated condition. The second floor housed laboratories East-west section looking north occupying the entire center floor plate, while the first floor housed East-west section looking north laboratories at the south half and a plenum crawl space at the north half. Utility tunnels are located beneath the first floor of the head house and east and west perimeter, extending north towards KCL.

North-south section looking east North-south section looking east Biology teaching lab floor Future program Biology teaching lab floor Future program Chemistry teaching lab floor Research labs Chemistry teaching lab floor Research labs Mechanical space Classrooms Mechanical space Classrooms 1 Support mechanical space Support mechanical space Mission and Goals 18 18

With Yale University’s mission emphasizing excellence in teaching, scholarship, research and community engagement, the school decided to significantly upgrade its science facilities on campus.

The goals of the SCL project were to:

• Provide new state-of-the-art teaching labs and associated support spaces within the footprint of the existing historic building

• Provide a much-needed roof replacement across the entire north and south center area

• Provide new HVAC systems to support the science programs

Renovation Challenges and Solutions

Floor-to-Floor Heights

Challenge — The greatest challenge presented by this project was the existing low floor-to-floor height of 11’-6” at the second floor, which was limiting for modern lab planning. 2

Solutions — The design team explored a floor-to-floor height of 14’-6” for the infill construction. While commensurate with contemporary lab planning and a source of future planning flexibility, the 14’-6” height would have raised the infill construction in the center of the building up 3’ above the perimeter rooms, which would require shallow ramps or stairs on the third floor chemistry level and an overall loss of program space. The design team then recommended, and Yale agreed, to maintain the low floor-to-floor height and open the ceilings for the second floor biology level.

The addition of cellular beams allowed piping and electrical conduits to be located in the same zone as structure. The biology labs, 3 support labs, and MEP infrastructure were designed to fit within the 1 Section elevations; 2 Floor-to-floor height; existing low floor-to-floor height of 11’-6” by strategically locating 3 Castellated beams the ductwork, conduit, structural, plumbing, and lighting systems within limited plenum areas. The third, top floor with chemistry labs is designed with a taller floor-to-floor height to accommodate large ductwork needed to exhaust the large number of fume hoods.

2 | Project Phasing

Challenge — Another significant challenge presented by this project was the phasing of the work to be completed in an occupied facility.

Solution — Phasing of utilities, development of temporary swing-space, maintaining life safety requirements, and consideration of noise, dust and vibration during construction were critical to the success of the project. Multiple design packages were developed and issued, corresponding to the academic schedule of the university, so that critical preparatory work could be completed during summer breaks.

Intertwining the Old and New

Challenge — Inserting a state-of-the-art laboratory facility within a historical building within a historical campus required a delicate process of respecting the history while bringing it into the 21st century.

Solution — In the renovated areas, the design team was careful to select finishes and lighting that would reflect the building and campus vernacular. For example, complementary finishes include adding wood in the stair, bronze-colored mullions in the windows and coffered ceilings.

Laboratory Environments

The renovated, north building core, inserted into the historic building, was based on a 31’-6” x 31’-6” lab planning module. This module served as the basis for all new construction building 1 elements, and is carried through from the structural grid to the interior partition wall system. This allowed for flexibility in the floorplan layout, important for both current programs and for the future.

A two-door elevator accessed from the ground level, (with one door opening to the public corridor and the other opening directly into the biology linear equipment room on level two and into the chemistry prep room on level three), serves both people and supply distribution. This allows easier and controlled 2 transfer of equipment and chemicals to the laboratories.

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1 Project phasing; 2 Existing grand staircase; 3 New staircase to third floor

© 2018 CANNONDESIGN. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. | 3 Biology teaching labs accommodate up to 16 students in flexible mobile tables in groups of four. Each table accommodates two students. This varies from one lab to another and depends on the activity in the lab. All the utilities are supplied from the floor to maintain clear sight-lines. Floor boxes with quick disconnects support flexibility and allow for easy reconfiguration of lab tables. Perimeter bench tops are used for shared instrument and equipment layout as well as storage above and below the bench top. Laboratories are also equipped with marker boards and projection screens on the instruction wall to support multimedia 1 2 and pre lab lectures. These labs back up to a service corridor for easy maintenance of utility infrastructure and shared equipment storage. CO2 manifolds serve the teaching labs and support cell culture incubators.

Organic chemistry and general chemistry teaching labs accommodate 36 students in three groups of 12. Each student in the organic chemistry lab is assigned one 4’ chemical fume hood and each group of 12 students has one 4’ dispensing hood with a total of 39, 4’ chemical fume hoods, in each lab. General chemistry labs are outfitted with fewer hoods but the infrastructure is in place to add more fume hoods in future in the event additional 3 organic chemistry sections are desired. All fume hoods are glass teaching hoods to promote safety and visual transparency. 6’ fume hoods are installed in the prep rooms and advanced teaching lab. A vacuum pump cabinet is located under every chemistry fume hood. Fume hood mockups were installed during the design phase to assist in the university’s selection.

Cold water supply and return is provided for experiments at the chemistry fume hoods. The cold water after passing through the experimental set up is discharged into a piped opening in the fume hood top. Discharged water from all the fume hoods travels 4 by gravity to a large cistern in the mechanical room on the first floor, where it cools down by passing through a heat exchanger 1 Original second floor with sawtooth roof; and then recirculated / pumped again to the fume hoods in the 2 Renovated second floor biology lab; chemistry labs, thereby saving millions of gallons of water annually. 3 Original chemistry lab; 4 Renovated chemistry lab

About CannonDesign CannonDesign is an integrated, global design firm that unites a dynamic team of strategists, futurists, researchers, architects, engineers and industry specialists, driven by a singular goal — to help solve our client’s and society’s greatest challenges.

Team Credits

CannonDesign: Architect of Record, Laboratory Planner/Designer, Contact Information , Lighting Design, Commissioning For more information please contact HBRA Architects Incorporated: Design Architect for Public Spaces John Jennings, AIA, LEED AP, WSP: MEP Engineer, Sustainability Services at [email protected] or Robert Silman Associates, PLLC: Structural Engineer Punit Jain, AIA, LEED Fellow, Nitsch : Civil Engineer at [email protected].

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