Committee selects Georgia Tech’s Roger A. and Helen B. Krone Engineered Biosystems Building for prestigious honor
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE) has named the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Roger A. and Helen B. Krone Engineered Biosystems Building (EBB) as a recipient of the 2018 COTE Top Ten Awards, the industry’s premier program for celebrating excellent sustainable design and performance. This marks the first Georgia-based project to win a COTE Award since 2012, and the third Atlanta-based project to win a COTE Award since the award program’s inception in 1997.
Designed by Cooper Carry and Lake|Flato Architects, the 218,000-square-foot LEED Platinum certified research laboratory creates a unique environment that connects people from multiple disciplines and departments to focus on societal problems in a holistic manner. The research conducted at EBB helps distinguish Georgia Tech as a national leader in biomedicine and biotechnology.
The AIA COTE jury stated, “The Engineered Biosystems Building weaves a large array of active and passive strategies into a highly tuned machine for this university research laboratory. Laboratory buildings are typically heavy water and energy users, yet the design team managed to show that vast improvements can be achieved through ingenuity and integrated design. The focus on water in the building and the reuse of rainwater and air conditioning condensate in the landscape surrounding site is particularly impressive.”
To achieve the design goals set for daylighting, energy, site ecology and water, the project team strategically created a vertically scaled, narrow research building with a light footprint. The project reports significant measured energy savings of 58 percent for the building type and an impressive 90 percent of floor area with direct view of the outside. Thoughtful organization allows for an abundance of daylight to reach the laboratory spaces as well as the offices.
Natural daylight, pristine outdoor views, a water harvesting system and other biophilic elements used throughout the project encourage interaction between chemists, engineers, biologists and computational scientists from two separate Colleges, the College of Engineering and the College of Science, as well as researchers from Emory University, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and other institutions.
The project team’s approach challenged conventional models of laboratory design, creating a system of open lab neighborhoods that foster engagement, with offices and meeting rooms strategically placed in the wings. Fire-proof glass was also incorporated throughout to further promote transparency and collaboration. In addition, a specialized research facility is located in the building’s basement, allowing for more publicly accessible gathering spaces to occupy the ground level.
“We are honored to receive this prestigious award from COTE, one of the industry’s leading voices for championing sustainable and efficient designs,” said Mark Jensen, Principal with Cooper Carry’s Science and Technology Studio. “Our team was tasked with creating a sustainable home for some of the world’s most gifted minds – a collaborative hub that inspires scientific discovery. We look forward to seeing continued innovation born from EBB.”
As one of the top architectural firms in North America, Cooper Carry has recently received several accolades for its continued contributions to the profession and the communities it serves. Earlier this month, AIA Georgia named Cooper Carry as the winner of the 2018 AIA Firm of the Year Award. The organization also awarded the Cooper Carry-designed West Village Dining Commons at Georgia Tech its 2018 Honor Award.
Cooper Carry is the architect of record for EBB and provided full design services. Lake|Flato Architects joined the team as the design architect. The teams will accept the COTE Award at the AIA National Conference and Gala in New York City this June. Other recipients of the 2018 COTE Top Ten Awards are: Albion District Library (Toronto); Mundo Verde at Cook Campus (Washington, D.C.); Nancy and Stephen Grand Family House (San Francisco); New United States Courthouse (Los Angeles); Ortlieb’s Bottling House (Philadelphia); The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, D.C.); San Francisco Art Institute – Fort Mason Center Pier 2 (San Francisco); Sawmill (Tehachapi, CA); and Sonoma Academy’s Janet Durgin Guild & Commons (Santa Rosa, CA).
For more information about Cooper Carry, visit coopercarry.com. For more information about EBB’s COTE Award, visit www.aia.org/showcases/185541-georgia-tech-engineered-biosystems-building.
