For Immediate Release: June 1, 2007
Minnesota's New Ag/Health Laboratory is Among the First State Lab Nationwide Since 9/11
HGASaint Paul, MN - A new research and testing laboratory for the State of Minnesota-among the first state laboratory nationwide to be designed and constructed since 9/11-establishes unprecedented standards for security and safety, sustainability, and strategic planning in new 21st-century government buildings. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) and Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Laboratory Building, designed by HGA Architects and Engineers and located next to Interstate 94 on the State Capitol Complex in St. Paul, collocates two departments critical to the safety and well-being of Minnesotans in one state-of-the-art facility. The result of a comprehensive strategic planning process and rigorous pre-design, the MDA|MDH Laboratory is also connected, via glass skyway, to the adjacent Orville L. Freeman Building, which houses administrative offices for the two departments.
Because of the collocation, the 178,000-square-foot laboratory building encourages time- and cost-saving interaction, information sharing and knowledge transfers between personnel in the two previously separate departments. At the same time, the collocation fosters and ensures streamlined service from, and superior security for, such mission-critical laboratory procedures as 24/7 monitoring of infectious diseases, food-borne illnesses and public-health emergencies, as well as routine public-health testing.
Working with lab architect CUH2A, HGA's architecture for the MDA|MDH Laboratory supports both urgent and day-to-day procedures with an interior "framework," based on the size and length of lab modules, which encourages collaboration and interaction. In addition, HGA incorporated into the secure facility an extraordinary degree of transparency: Staff can look straight through their daylit labs from one end of the building to the other, and enjoy glass-walled, cantilevered conference rooms inside the facility's glass entrance.
Finally, the MDA|MDH Laboratory is the first in the state to comply with the new Minnesota Sustainable Design Guidelines, also known as "B3." The facility fulfills seven of B3's criteria-planning for conservation, site, water, energy and atmosphere, indoor-environmental quality, materials and waste-and thus became a pilot project and benchmark. As a result, the HGA-designed facility meets the State's goals for innovation, productivity and efficiency while protecting, maintaining and improving the health of Minnesotans. The building also ensures the security of personnel during urgent work on bio-terrorism defense, potential pandemics, food safety and environmental protection.
Architecture for Interaction. Many of the contemporary concerns facing public-health labs involve the possibility of dealing with hazardous materials of unknown origin, whether infectious disease pathogens or weapons of biological, chemical or radiological terrorism. Secure facilities, with a high level of containment and sophisticated air systems, are required to protect personnel and safely handle such materials. The old MDA|MDH labs, as they existed, were inadequate to meet these needs.
At the same time, the State's Strategic Facilities Plan called for the co-location of the two research-and-testing agencies for both practical and forward-thinking reasons. Staff at both MDA|MDH had found that close, sustained cooperation and interaction was critical to both agencies, especially when they were dealing with disease outbreaks, natural disasters and other public-health emergencies. Thus, not only would the co-location increase productivity and face-to-face interdisciplinary collaboration; it would also decrease redundancies in personnel and equipment. As such, the co-location would result in substantial cost efficiencies for the State.
HGA's design solution involved providing laboratory functions on three levels in the building, with office support and meeting rooms organized around the central lab core to encourage interaction. The "framework" for the building was created from the inside out with a 20-foot lab module determining the size and shape of the structure. Inside the building, the labs were arranged in two parallel "bars" that organize the framework while expressing the fact that two distinct agencies work together in the building; the lab bars also align with the two primary streets-Columbus Avenue and 12th Avenue-that run alongside the building.
The two agencies' new interactive work environment is also enhanced by a floor plate that maximizes natural light throughout the labs, provides views to the outside from every lab, and fosters visual connection between offices and labs. An open commons area on the building's northeast side near the main entry, and generously sized stairwells, corridors and conversation alcoves support formal and spontaneous information exchanges between MDA|MDH staff. Glass-walled conference rooms around a glass circulation tower link all levels of the building while also connecting occupants to the State Capital Complex outside.
Design for Safety and Security. Because many of the MDA|MDH lab procedures require high levels of secure containment, HGA's design incorporates diverse approaches to ensure the safety of lab personnel as well as multiple layers of containment to protect personnel from hazardous biological materials. In addition, HGA's design approach to biological containment includes protection of experimental studies and urgent testing (in part by keeping biocontainment areas isolated from each other), and the incorporation of mechanical systems to ensure the protection of people and the environment outside of the building.
The building's internal transparency-from their labs, staff can see through the building from one end to the other and the outside-and the glass panels on internal office walls, provide almost limitless visual access throughout the building. HGA also seamlessly designed security checkpoints at building entrances using physical control desks around access points, internal and external glazing that allows for visual observation inside and outside the building and inconspicuous observation points throughout the facility for security personnel. Such design features are augmented by state-of-the-art security systems control and monitor access, with individual, specialized security for biological Safety Level-3 or BSL-3 labs (where work is done with indigenous or exotic agents that can cause lethal or serious disease through inhalation).
Ventilation systems based on directional airflow through the use of air-pressure differentials, direct and exterior exhaust and HEPA filters, and constant volume exhaust in critical, sensitive areas like BSL-3 labs, ensure reliability. Electrical systems include emergency-power generators, UPS backups for security systems, special equipment for life-safety situations, and electronic (or clean) grade power for equipment. Lab-containment systems are based on Agricultural Research Service Biocontainment Guidelines, barriers and containment strategies include biological-safety cabinets, lab airlocks and air-gasketed doors, and decontamination facilities. Meanwhile, BSL-3 labs-which are completely separated from public areas and from non-BSL-3 lab personnel-require extra security. These labs feature self-closing and sealable doors, and sealed finishes, utility penetrations, floors, walls and ceilings.
Sustainability and Energy Savings. The MDA|MDH Laboratory is the first lab facility in the State of Minnesota designed according to the new Minnesota Sustainable Design Guidelines, known as B3. The B3 guidelines are similar to the LEED guidelines created by the U.S. Green Building Council, but they were generated to respond specifically to the Minnesota climate and other local conditions and practices. The MDA|MDH facility was used as a pilot project and has since become a benchmark for future projects.
HGA achieved an extraordinary rate of compliance with B3 through such energy-saving strategies as improved glass; high-performance water systems; upgraded roof and wall insulation; premium-efficiency motors and variable-frequency drives; laboratory airflow controls; and fume-hood user sensors. HGA also incorporated lighting that's centrally controlled via a programmable system that allows for automated operation and manual shutdown. In addition to substantial illumination provided by natural sunlight allowed to permeate to the center of each floor plate, laboratory lighting also includes direct-indirect, continuous, linear, and pendant-mounted fluorescent fixtures where necessary.
In laboratory buildings, however, mechanical systems used for heating, cooling and ventilating the facility 24/7, 365 days a year, with zero shutdowns over a 20-year period in the case of the MDA|MDH facility, are the largest source of energy consumption. In addition, the laboratories use 100 percent outside air and 100 percent exhaust air in once-through air systems, and air-exchange rates are high because of intense heat gains and cooling requirements for lab equipment with attendant high rates of exhaust air. HGA's multiple strategies for green or sustainable design incorporated throughout the facility will yield energy savings. This is achieved through HGA's use of a Total Energy Recovery Wheel.
The MDA|MDH facility represents the first working installation of the Total Energy Recovery Wheel in the Midwest. The innovative energy-saving technology is ideally suited to lab HVAC situations, as it reclaims and reuses the heat contained in exhaust air before it's discharged outside. In other words, the reclaimed energy is used to condition the raw outside air brought into the building. In Minnesota, in particular, conditioning air is energy intensive during periods of extremely frigid winter temperatures and hot, humid summer temperatures. The use of the Total Heat Recovery Wheel in the MDA|MDH facility, however, will result in energy savings of more than $8 million over 20 years.
Finally, the initial decision to collocate the Department of Health and Department of Agriculture in one laboratory building was the State's first act of cost effectiveness and energy efficiency, a decision then implemented, supported and enhanced by HGA's design. In addition, the laboratory building is located next to local public transit and a future light-rail line, and the laboratory's adjacency to administrative offices next door further minimizes environmental costs and transportation efficiencies. Moreover, HGA's design of an enduring building that operates at maximum energy efficiency makes the MDA|MDH a prototype for laboratories in the 21st century.
:: View Minnesota Departments of Agriculture and Health Orville L. Freeman Office Building
:: View Minnesota Departments of Agriculture and Health Laboratory Building
HGA Contact: Julie Luers (612) 758-4000 e-mail JLuers@hga.com
Media Contact: Susan Evans, Evans Larson (612) 338-6999 e-mail susan@evanslarson.com