COVER STORY, SEPTEMBER 2006

INSPIRED BY SCIENCE
A look at four new facilities that are putting Texas at the forefront of the medical, science and technology industry.
Bobbin Wages

The biotechnology field is burgeoning across the U.S., and as the industry grows, so does the need for facilities that can accommodate sophisticated research and technology workspaces. With four new medical and technology facilities coming on line in Texas, the state has the concept of providing high-class researchers with high-class properties down to a science.

Research Office Complex
Austin, Texas

The Research Office Complex in Austin, Texas, will give the Texas Advanced Computing Center and the Jackson School of Geosciences' Institute for Geophysics the room they need to grow. Flintco Inc. broke ground on the project in September 2005, and completion is scheduled for this fall.

PBS&J Architects designed the structure, which will be composed of a brick and aluminum storefront façade and a metal stud back-up. TACC will occupy the Research Office Complex’s first floor, which will include office and meeting space; a 6,000-square-foot machine room on a raised floor with the capability of doubling in size; space for a visualization laboratory; and a large auditorium that UTIG will manage. UTIG will inhabit the second and third floors, which principally will contain offices and meeting spaces.

In order to conduct high-level research on topics such as the Earth’s structure, climate change and geologic hazards, scientists need access to the best advanced computing technologies — and ample room to deploy them. “Because the resources and expertise we provide are so critical to all other areas of the university, the college gave us the space we needed to expand,” says Marcia Inger, TACC’s assistant director of development and external relations.

Because both interior walls of the larger machine room will comprise glass, visitors will have a clear view of what’s going on inside. “We designed it with the public in mind,” Inger says.  “We wanted to increase visibility to our world-class machine room.”  

With extra space in a superior facility, TACC and UTIG will be able to expand their staff sizes and accomplish their goals. “We want to provide the resources and space for research that needs to be done in the 21st century,” Inger says.

Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine Building
College Station, Texas

The Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine Building in College Station, Texas, which is being designed by Perkins+Will and built by Fretz Construction, will house the largest collection of mouse embryonic stem cells in the world.

Designed by Perkins+Will and constructed by Houston-based Fretz Construction, the building will be located across the street from Texas A&M’s campus hospital for the veterinary sciences. TIGM is renting the land for the development, which is within the Texas A&M University Research Park. The property will contain a controlled area into which personnel can only enter after showering and donning the appropriate clothing and masks.

The facility will employ approximately 50 people to care for the mice and approximately 20 people to conduct the actual research. “We expect various companies to relocate here because the mice will be available to them and to the university,” says Ray Webb, TIGM’s chief operating officer. “The facility will not only increase the state’s biotechnology capabilities but also will fill the need for mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells nationally and internationally.”  

The experiments conducted within the facility will result in great strides in the field of molecular biology and medicine. “This is a good example of how a university, private industry and state government can work together to create more jobs and better health,” Webb says.

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso Campus
El Paso, Texas

The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso campus is exploding. With the conversion of the college’s third- and fourth-year medical program into a full-fledged, 4-year school, Vaughn Construction is busy renovating the existing buildings as well as constructing new edifices on a 10-acre parcel of land the university was gifted in 2003. When the project is fully built out, its costs will total $334 million.

Receiving approval for the expansion required Texas Tech’s intense determination. “We started planning this project at a time when it was not popular,” says Dr. Manuel de la Rosa, regional dean of Texas Tech University’s El Paso campus. “The granter, the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), had predicted a glut of physicians for 2010. In 1996, we conducted a study to calculate the ratio of physicians to patients, both nationwide and statewide; we only had 40 percent of the national average.”

After illustrating the state of Texas’ under-representation in the medical field with empirical data, the school joined forces with the state, the local medical society and the school’s board of regents to change the AAMC’s policy. Plans for the expansion of Texas Tech’s 70-acre campus were approved in 1999, and the project will be complete in 2009.

Vaughn Construction currently is renovating the two-story, 70,000-square-foot, 30-year-old regional academic health center building by refurbishing its lab space, library and 300-seat auditorium as well as enhancing the classrooms with distance capabilities. Last year, a third floor was added to the Texas Tech Medical Center, which is the campus’ second-oldest structure. The 125,000-square-foot facility contains medical offices, pediatrics, internal medicine, OB/GYN, orthopedics and surgery.

Ground-up construction is occurring on the school’s 10-acre gift of land. A 95,000-square-foot medical research building, or MRB I, already has been completed. The six-story facility houses a basement, a biosafety-level lab, open labs, a small animal facility and a penthouse.

A 127,000-square-foot medical education building, or MEB, containing teaching labs and classrooms currently is being erected and is slated for delivery in 2008. Los Angeles-based CO Architects designed this portion of the development. The Smith Group of Detroit is serving as medical science architect.

A second 200,000-square-foot medical research building, or MRB II, is anticipated to break ground in 2008. Also on the drawing board are an office tower; a 1,600-space parking garage; and the addition of a new tower and outpatient wing to Thomason General Hospital, a county hospital that also is located on the 70-acre site.

Because the campus is located 1,500 feet from the Mexican border, Hispanic health issues will be the center’s primary concern. “Our research identity is called Border Health,” de la Rosa says. “Border Health consists of diabetes, obesity, environmental health, dementia and breast cancer, which are the predominant diseases of the Hispanic population.”

In order to match the campus’ cultural identity, the project’s design will be reminiscent of the Spanish Renaissance style of architecture. 

Fayez S. Sarofim Research Building
Houston

Located within the Texas Medical Center in Houston, the $120 million, seven-story Fayez S. Sarofim Research Building contains two wings that separate the office and lab space. The 223,000-square-foot project was completed in May.

Built by Vaughn Construction, the project was completed in May and is partially occupied. As home to the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM), which is aiming to attract scientists from all over the world, the developer, The University of Texas Health Science Center, knew that world-class researchers would require a world-class facility. Capitalizing on green design elements was a great first step. Energy-efficient features include the use of daylighting, the recycling of the building’s air, a high-performance clay tile skin and materials that emit low VOCs (volatile organic compounds).

The topics that the IMM scientists are exploring include neuroscience, stem cell research, in-flammation, metabolism, obesity, diabetes, genetics and proteomic discovery. Such diverse and complicated issues require flexible lab space. In order to allow the scientists freedom in their research, open lab floorplates and a custom-designed overhead carrier system were created. This overhead delivery system allows the configuration of the lab benches, including electrical, plumbing and other mechanical needs, to plug into different stations. “The lab benches can move and change, making the floor completely flexible,” Hickson says. “We ensured that the building will be able to expand and change with the needs of the scientists over time.” Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates was responsible for this innovative lab and MEP (mechanical/ electrical/plumbing) design.

While the building’s northern wing will house the lab space and the southern wing will accommodate the technology and administrative offices, a state-of-the-art vivarium for rodents will be located within the property’s core. Moreover, the breezeway in the front of the building will accelerate the wind and keep the property cool during hot weather. All of these resources will be available to distinguished scientists as well as blossoming students. “Because the whole concept is about interaction, the building is designed so that everyone is equal,” Hickson says. 

The property’s reflection pond, which will encircle the building, will encourage socialization as well as function as a gathering place for students. 

The Fayez S. Sarofim Research Building will not only provide IMM scientists with the resources necessary to conduct their experiments but will also allow them to work in a pleasant environment. “This project will be successful in that it will attract scientists from all over the world and help them further their research in a building that’s healthy, inspiring and well-designed,” Hickson says.

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