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Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Lab
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The Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center is a premier AIDS research
facility which was founded, through private funding, for the sole
purpose of creating a high level research laboratory dedicated to
the study of the HIV virus. Syska Hennessy Group, with an established
background in biological safety technology, was brought on board
to provide solutions for the client's various support systems needs.
Syska's team worked closely with Dr. David Ho, the center's director,
to ensure that this specialized facility's safety and power systems
would meet or exceed the stringent requirements for handling bio-hazardous
material. This facility, located in New York City's Bureau of Laboratories
Building, occupies two floors, the first of which was completed
in 1991. In 1996, working with the same architect and construction
manager, Syska Hennessy Group again used it's innovative problem
solving abilities to create an additional floor of laboratory space
to accommodate the growing expansion needs of the research center.
The focal point of this facility is the 5,000 sq. ft. Irene Diamond
Containment Laboratory. Designed to meet Bio-Safety Level 3 requirements,
the space is accessed through a double door air-lock and is maintained
at a constant negative pressure with regard to the outlying space.
The lab functions as a vacuum to draw in air as a door is opened,
effectively preventing the escape of potential contaminants into
common areas. Within this laboratory, there are eight independent
modules used for individual research teams; it is within these modules
that the actual virus is handled, and therefore must be maintained
at an even greater negative pressure than the BL-3 lab's common
area. To monitor pressure levels within the lab, sensory warning
systems employ differential pressure gauges that alert staff if
the pressure level in any given area of the lab is below the required
parameters. Syska Hennessy Group, fully aware of the hazardous nature
of the lab's function, worked closely with the client to develop
a master plan that transformed the BL-3 lab into a self contained
highly monitored environment that is effectively sealed off from
the rest of the facility.
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The design plan we developed for the BL-3 area includes a dedicated
air handling and exhaust system that uses a special filter / pre-filter
system to clean the exhausted air before releasing it out of the
building. One hundred percent of the air intake comes from outside
the building and each module contains it's own hooded exhaust fan
that is routed to the roof. One of the major challenges of this
installation involved the routing of that exhaust system. The entire
building's tenancy is laboratory facilities, and as such they also
route their exhaust to the roof. We found that the building shafts
provided for this were literally clogged with ductwork. As a result,
we had to undertake an extensive survey of the buildings shafts
to determine what ductwork exhaust routes were active and what could
be removed to provide a viable routing solution for the exhaust
system.
In addition to the BL-3 Laboratory, our project team had to devise
several utilities solutions for space concerns. Space being at a
premium, the space design left a meager allowance for mechanical
systems and a 53,000 cfm air-handling unit. Syska Hennessy Group
worked with the project team to devise alternate solutions to a
centralized utilities room in order to meet project criteria and
satisfy space constraints. In addition, the building's policy of
shutting down their chillers in winter required our team to design
rooftop chiller system to provide for the research centers year-round
cooling needs.
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