Pharmaceutical Lab Design
Project Description
SSS Builders is working with LPA Inc. to design a 3-story, V-shaped, steel-frame Pharmaceutical Research Lab. The 320,000 gross square foot structure will be integrated as part of the planned UCI School of Pharmacy and will be located off of California Avenue. Planned facilities include research labs, research offices, a clinical trial area, administration rooms, faculty offices, lecture halls, conference and seminar rooms, a warehouse for storage, and an exterior patio for leisure purposes. The central portion will contain an atrium, where bridges will be constructed to span from wing to wing. This will allow for a more accessible structure, where students can enter on either side of the building and can easily traverse from the upper floor wings containing research labs to the upper floor wing containing the supporting offices. Care must be taken in structural design to ensure that the building can resist gravity and lateral loads. The first portion of this project consisted of developing the gravity system and analyzing floor vibrations. Next quarter, SSS Builders will finish the project by desiging the lateral frame resisting system and the foundation.
Goals and Purpose
The purpose of the UCI Pharmaceutical Lab will to be to serve as the main hub for the planned UCI School of Pharmacy. The design of the lab will foster collaboration amongst various majors. By creating a design that enables collaboration amongst students and faculty with wide ranges of skills, new and innovative approaches can be taken to find solutions to various diseases and illnesses. The purpose of SSS Builders and LPA Inc. is to ensure that the structure will be able to withstand the planned facility and leisure areas. The dead loads were determined according to the planned fixed materials to be used in the structure, while the live loads were determined using extensive research of various lab materials and with the aid of ASCE 7-16. Special consideration will be taken in terms of designing the floors for vibrations, the central atrium, and the V-shape where the two wings meet.
Principle Goals, Objectives, and Deliverables
UCI's Pharmaceutical Research Lab must be designed as per the client request's. As of today, SSS Builders has completed the following tasks:
- Choose materials and design loads
- Revit model
- Structural framing plan for gravity loads
- RAM Model for gravity loads
- Hand calcs for a beam, a girder, and a column
The remaining components of the project are either in progress, or have yet to be started:
- Floor vibration analysis
- Design of the lateral force resisting system
- Foundation design
- RAM Model updated for lateral loads and foundation.
If SSS Builders has sufficient time prior to the deadline, the following task may also be completed
- Basement under structure that will house nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (NMR) equipment.
Features of Structure
- 3 story, V- shaped structure.
- 320,000 gross square feet.
- Floor to floor height of 10 feet.
- Concrete on PLW3 Verco deck for floors and roof.
- 3.25" concrete over 3" deck for fireproofing and maximum strength.
- Exterior glass curtain walls to maximize natural sunlight.
- 30'x30' grids. Beams spaced 10' o.c. with bays of 30' in order to maximize effectiveness of decking at 3 span condition.
- Beams spaced 6' o.c. in connecting wing areas.
- Central atrium.
- Each wing aligned with grid design for easier constructibility and in effort to maximize lateral force resistance.
- Bridges that span from wing to wing on upper floors.
