Pell Laboratory Receives Honors

Judging has wrapped for the 2013 AIA New England awards. PAYETTE is pleased to announce the Pennsylvania State University Pell Laboratory for Advanced Biological Studies received an Honor Award.

This recently completed project of a biocontainment facility is sited within a cluster of animal research facilities on Penn State’s Ag Campus, set within the rolling agrarian landscape of central Pennsylvania. The vernacular landscape surrounding the site contains several simple rectangular barns capped by zinc clad roofs and silos that frame the horizon. The barns are constructed from a utilitarian material palette, wood or cinderblock structures, that often employ a high-low stepped section to provide grade level access at both the high and low sides of a hill. The Pell Laboratory builds on these simple traditions, but with an attitude that reflects the cutting edge program.

The building’s most distinctive feature is its undulating roof form, which houses a complex array of mechanical systems and provides a dynamic silhouette against the tree-lined horizon. The zinc clad roof form collects the twin bars of concrete block laboratories that straddle a central spine framing dramatic landscape views at each end. A subtle shifting of the two laboratory bars along the spine frames the building’s main entrance. Fenestration is articulated as a series of vertical slices across the laboratory bars to facilitate cross building transparency — framing views on each side of the corridor.

BSL-3 ENHANCED RESEARCH
The research in the Pell Laboratory is focused on human and animal diseases that can be transmitted via aerosol or insect vectors. The research spaces are organized into suites, allowing multiple research projects to be conducted without concerns about confounding cross-contamination. Suites containing either one or two holding rooms, paired with a procedure room allow for different scales of scientific study to be undertaken. The suite configuration and robust interior finishes also allow for the facility to be decontaminated on a room-by-room basis (via gas or vapor). This facilitates continuous operation of the adjacent research spaces and minimizes research interruption. Also, the Pell Laboratory was designed as a “Select-Agent” facility; making it capable of taking on advanced research projects using federally restricted disease agents which pose a significant threat to humans and agriculture. While small in size, the Pell Laboratory is hugely significant tool in the infectious disease research community.

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Energy Savings: Biocontainment
The Story behind the Photograph