Laboratory Building Design

Influence of Modernism

Modernism’s simplistic and streamlined design concepts, coupled with the advent of new and cheaper building materials created an era of architecture in the 1950s and 60s that was both practical and economical. In relation to research and academic institutions, buildings/campuses were being designed to fit the current needs of researchers and workers, rather than serve as a lasting tangible tribute to an institution or idea. These architectural advancements, coupled with the directives of both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, to both improve and expand federal architecture in the nation’s capital and across the U.S., gave birth to a new era of largescale, planned campus facilities in Modern building and landscape design:

“The design of Federal office buildings, particularly those to be located in the Nation’s Capital, must meet a two-fold requirement. First, it must provide efficient and economical facilities for the use of Government agencies. Second, it must provide visual testimony to the dignity, enterprise, vigor, and stability of the American government.

 Landscaping is included as an integral part of the design of any building and appropriate instructions are given in this respect during the design stage to contract architects and engineers. As part of these instructions, the architect is told to make his design in keeping with the motif of the community."

• —Rolando Rivas-Camp 2002

The evolution of the modern research facility did not occur overnight, rather it was an evolution through trial and error. A key element to designing a successful research space was not only ensuring proper allocation of space, but also allowing for both expansion/conversion of working areas and easy collaboration among researchers. Architects and designers took cues from earlier projects of the late 1950s–1960s where buildings were often designed with floor plans that were considered too narrow by the inhabitants and with spacing between floors and utility corridors that was viewed as inherently insufficient. An excellent case study in this evolving design theory can be seen in the work of Louis Kahn. Louis Kahn’s 1962 Richards Medical Research Laboratories located at the University of Pennsylvania is known as a Landmark Modern building, however, the facility’s design exhibits an inefficient use of space, which isolates researchers from each other. Kahn learned from his design limitations at Richards and applied these lessons in his design of the iconic Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. Kahn worked with famed Polio researcher Jonas Salk to create design concepts that are utilized by lab designers even today. At the Salk Institute, Kahn was charged “to create spacious, unobstructed laboratory spaces that could be adapted to the ever-changing needs of science” (Fiederer 2017). Kahn utilized large, well-lit spaces constructed out of lasting materials that could be easily cleaned and manipulated for the needs of researchers. In addition, Kahn incorporated landscaping elements to both enhance the design of the campus as well as serve a function.

Buildings 29 and 29A

The buildings at the Division of Biologics Standards (DBS) suffered from many of the design limitations of the Richards laboratory building discussed above. From 1955 to 1960, scientists and administrators in the DBS were spread amongst multiple buildings on the NIH campus, including Buildings 4, 5, 7, and 8. While Building 29 allowed researchers to work and collaborate more easily in one consolidated space, by the early 1960s additional space was clearly needed. The firm of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls was chosen for the project as they had completed or served as associate architect on several largescale Modern design projects in the 1950s–early 1960s, including the GE Motors Technical Center, in Detroit, Michigan and Michigan Bell Telephone Northwest Staff Center in Southfield, Michigan. Smith, Hinchman & Grylls were utilizing new modern technology as well as incorporating the feedback and wishes of their clients much like Louis Kahn at the Salk institute in order to create designs that would allow for the best use of lighting and space for the researchers working in their buildings. As such, Building 29A was designed with an innovative floor plan that catered to the needs of the NIH DBS Laboratory Annex. The floor plan featured an exterior perimeter corridor that shielded the labs from light, heat, and noise from the outdoors, as well as modular laboratories which could be adjusted as project needs changed, and continuous utility cores behind each hallway of labs in order to facilitate these changes easily. Engineering/architectural controls such as air intake towers and a high velocity exhaust air system were also put in place to ensure that the working environment was both functional and safe.