R&D Magazine Awards Penn State Pell Laboratory High Honors

Judging has wrapped for the 2014 R & D Magazine Laboratory of the Year competition. PAYETTE is pleased to announce the Pennsylvania State University Pell Laboratory has been awarded High Honors. Learn more about the project.

The genesis of the Pell Laboratory was driven by the need for high-containment laboratory space which, in 2006, was not available at Pennsylvania State University. The Pell Laboratory houses some of the most cutting-edge infectious disease research in the world in an ABSL-3 Enhanced biocontainment facility; where scientists study aerosol and insect transmitted diseases in a safe and secure environment.

At first, the facility was envisioned as a modular laboratory with a few fixed elements of infrastructure to support its needs. The design team was engaged in 2006 to study the options for execution of this concept and it was quickly determined that a more permanent solution would be required to support the goals of the project. Through over six iterations of the design, the project would change from a basic BSL-3 facility, consisting of two research labs and support space, to a 22,395 GSF facility for Select Agent work in animal models.

Providing transparency, natural light and a connection to the surrounding natural landscape in an intense biocontainment environment is the central theme of the project. Biocontainment facilities are typically designed as windowless “bunkers” for security reasons, and great care was taken to provide access to the natural environment for workers who spend the majority of their day working in cumbersome personal-protective equipment (Tyvek suits and Positive Air-Purifying Respirators) in the Pell Laboratory.

Organizationally, the project consists of two distinct zones: the headhouse and the biocontainment zone. The headhouse contains the manager’s office, a conference / break room, a communicating stair between the mechanical rooms and a BSL-2 research lab. The headhouse, wrapped in zinc, it is the point where the dynamic form of the roof transforms its shape to define the main entrance.

The biocontainment zone, which is clad in concrete block, contains suites of animal holding and procedure rooms, along with research labs and a secure loading dock. The research floor is sandwiched between two interstitial mechanical floors that provide access to maintain and service equipment without violating biocontainment barriers.

The Pell Laboratory’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 undulation of the roof line takes its cue from the rolling hills that can be seen beyond the site. 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.

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Pell Laboratory Receives Honors
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