based on either owner, AHSRAE or code standards. And then we go back into equipment and duct sizes and all those requirements, and we can start to physically check if they’ ll fit.
So, there’ s an element of the unknown when it comes to repurposing spaces— older materials, existing site constraints, and so on. How do you mitigate these complexities? Does new technology play a role?
Things like laser scanning, which is newish, help. From a site investigation standpoint, being able to go back and look at the scans of spaces, take new measurements and think of things that you weren’ t necessarily thinking of when you were out there is a great tool. It prevents you from having to make a lot of repeat visits, right? These visits take time and can detract from getting the actual work done.
Besides technology, good old-fashioned collaboration, picking up the phone, insisting on meetings and not letting a team work in a silo are also very important. Making sure everybody on the project team is talking and listening to what everyone is saying is critical because it may reveal issues in a different way that maybe some of the other team members weren’ t thinking about.
When you’ re reusing utilities and reconnecting to existing infrastructure for air, water, gases, waste and so forth, it’ s also important to make sure you actually put your eye on it. I mean, physically look at the utilities and even touch them. This helps you understand that it’ s there, and you’ re not just basing the design on record drawings or as-builts because they can be wrong or slightly different from reality. That mismatch could move some of the scope into a different part of the building.
What are the biggest obstacles to repurposing older spaces for new laboratories? I expect the continuum of which obstacles are dealbreakers differs from client to client, but what have you seen in your time in the industry?
A lot of times, physical constraints like the floor-to-floor height or maybe the existing systems that the building has aren’ t adequate. It could also be that the user expects a space that the existing facility can’ t accommodate.
We designed a seed storage room for the Salk Institute, but that existing space didn’ t have any infrastructure. It was a janitor’ s closet storing toilet paper and cleaning supplies, and Salk wanted to repurpose that room for a seed storage facility. We had to figure out ways to install new HVAC and exhaust in that small space. We coordinated cores through the wall and utilities up to the roof and to another level where we could place refrigeration equipment.
We had to think through the controls for humidity because the walls were concrete, and concrete moves a lot of water through it. We had to consider how we would stay under a certain humidity level and where to place equipment for redundancy so that another system could kick in if one thing failed.
Then, there was the bigger picture of how we would fit all these things required for seed storage into a tiny space. It was a very densely packed room at the end of the day. It was a challenge to get there, but it worked out well, and these are the kinds of solutions we love to deliver to clients in the life science sector.
Also, getting in there early to highlight all the nonconstructible things and trying to list out everything that could go wrong upfront so that you can work through them instead of having them pop up later and having to redo work to accommodate the conditions.
Given the unique demands, what does collaboration look like on these projects? How is it different than when designing a new lab?
In a reuse scenario, a lot of times, the model that you get from an architect isn’ t as perfect. The team has to realize that they can’ t just rely on the model to lay out the work. That’ s one of the significant challenges, ensuring people think and design with the real-world conditions. Teams need experienced people who know what can be built and what can’ t.
I’ m going to go back to the point about touching your points of connection and seeing them. You also have to think about phasing and whether you need to shut down another lab to complete the project. You need to come up with a plan for all eventualities.