Engineering + Research
THE PRACTICE OF
BNIM
ABOUT BNIM
BNIM is an employee-owned design company. The 2011 AIA National Architecture Firm Award Winner, BNIM is an innovative leader in designing high performance human purposed environments. Through an integrated process of collaborative discovery, we create transformative, living design that leads to vital and healthy organizations and communities.
As an employee-owned design company, BNIM invests in a shared future by placing ownership in employees’ hands, strengthening a collective commitment to design excellence, leadership, and alignment with BNIM’s core purpose and values.
Engineering Research
THE PRACTICE OF BNIM
Designing for the Future of Engineering Research
Engineering education and research facilities serve a wide crosssection of needs and sub-disciplines. They provide a safe, inspiring environment for exploration and discovery. They act as a tool for faculty, researchers, and students. They serve as a powerful asset for institutions. And they constantly evolve to accommodate the important work that takes place within them. In the past two decades, several important trends have emerged that are transforming the way we design interdisciplinary engineering research facilities of the future:
Academic Spaces that Amplify National Recognition
Education and research buildings must elevate and advance the work of the teams within, while also supporting their productivity and vitality. The design of a world-class research and education facility can yield transformational results for an institute’s recruitment and retention efforts.
Transparency
A building designed to encourage transparency will showcase the institution’s scientific endeavors and achievements. This may involve digital displays, interior glazing, display cases, scientific artwork, graphics, and even building form to inform and educate on the function and scientific disciplines housed within.
Centralized Hubs of Scholarly Activity
Contemporary scientific instructional and research should activate the buildings they occupy. By providing intentional, strategically located spaces - small nooks, stairway landings, breakout lounges, small libraries, conference rooms - everyday user activity can spur chance
interaction and meaningful collaboration between traditionally disparate building user groups. These “collision spaces” are small but impactful solutions that promote cross pollination of knowledge and ideas.
High-Performance Integrated Design
Science and engineering buildings are extremely energy intensive, and today’s design solutions reflect a highperformance integrated approach. In particular, programming-driven MEP strategies create energy efficiency, maintain critical environmental conditions and optimal human health, comfort, and safety for occupants.
Adaptable Facilities
Academic facility design continues to evolve with a need for highly flexible and adaptable buildings to support future needs and goals. Central to the longterm success of many of BNIM’s projects is the concept of “long life, loose fit” — addressing future, unanticipated needs through the programming of space, adaptable infrastructure, and the overall design of buildings.
Seamans Center for the Engineering Arts and Sciences
Connecting an engineering community in innovation in teaching, learning, and discovery
The South Annex Addition to the Seamans Center for the Engineering Arts and Sciences at the University of Iowa creates a larger community within the entire engineering facility and fosters innovation in teaching, learning, and discovery. The addition features new formal and informal research spaces, varied sizes of active learning classrooms, student development and tutoring spaces, and the creation of a new common lobby centered around a technology-rich student project design studio that brings the entire engineering community together. This includes 4,000 SF of student collaboration space, including more than 200 seats for work groups, and a 128-seat, state-of-the-art, tiered lecture hall with three giant screens. Renovation work in the existing building includes creating an Engineering Learning Commons adjacent to the engineering library space that features flexible study and presentation spaces for faculty and student use.
Location: Iowa City, Iowa
Size: 68,094 SF
Completion: 2017
“The ample daylighting in the building and the attrative views of the landscaping have created a space where people want to spend their time. A series of bioswales that were installed along the hillside adjacent to the building provide both beautiful vegetation and functionality since they serve to naturally cleanse the watershed from the building and the nearby street.”
ALEC SCRANTON, DEAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
IMPACT + INNOVATION
The Seamans Center for the Engineering Sciences is nested at the convergence of three campus structures while accommodating a primary campus circulation corridor, accessibility throughout the steep site conditions, and a dense array of campus utilities within the project footprint. Site amenity solutions included high performance landscape which delivers stormwater management and opportunities for engagement with the civil engineering program. Other sustainable features that contribute to the building’s LEED Gold certification includes 234 solar roof panels with the capacity to produce 76,000 kWh of energy per year, 2,200 square feet of bioswales, 5,000 square feet of green roofing, and native planting.
“The BNIM architects did an amazing job of designing a state-of-the-art addition that recognizes who we are and how we go about our work of educating students and creating new knowledge. For example, the addition is filled with windows and sky-lights for daylighting, has ample space for spontaneous collaborative learning with tables, chairs, and technology distributed throughout. The architects worked closely with our faculty and staff to learn what we need to achieve even more; as a result we now have a beautiful fluids lab that incluides a wind tunnel, a tow tank, stateof-the-art visualization capabilities, and more… In short, this new addition makes us better — it enhances everything that we do.”
ALEC SCRANTON, DEAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
SUSTAINABLE / NOTABLE FEATURES
• 68,094 SF facility
• Building will serve as a living laboratory that creates an attitude of discovery and innovation.
• The majority of the building is elevated above the grade plane to increase open space on the urban site and to create covered bicycle parking.
• The elevation also allows air and light to create a more habitable urban environment on a congested campus site.
• Above and beyond approach to universal design includes a digital kiosk with assistive learning technology and a comprehensive wayfinding strategy.
• The site / building design offers 24/7 accessible access up and down a steeply sloped site, which was previously a significant barrier in a heavily utilized pedestrian path.
• Prior to the project, stormwater would run-off down a steep slope to the storm sewer and near by river. The site now incorporates biocells to slow, cool, and clean storm water.
• Native landscaping and ground covers also create a more sustainable site condition.
• There is enough detention to reduce the postdeveloped 100-year storm to be less than half of the pre-developed rate.
undergraduate enrollment has doubled, reaching
2,200 students since the expansion
AWARDS:
2018 AIA Central States Region Citation, Design Excellence Award
2018 AIA Iowa Merit, Excellence in Design
PROCESS
BNIM’s design approach elevated the mass of the building above grade; standing in harmony with the surrounding context, delivering a net positive cost solution to the site utilities, offering a strong entrance identity for the College, and creating campus gateway that celebrates the pedestrian circulation spine.
solar roof panels with the capacity to produce
76,000
kWh of energy per year, saving energy costs
Fayez S. Sarofim Research Building
A comprehensive research facility designed within the urban site of Texas Medical Center campus
The Fayez S. Sarofim Research Building is the home for the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM), part of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. The building is a composition of separate functional “species.” Each species – including dry and wet laboratories, faculty and research offices, a 200-seat auditorium, vivarium, conferencing areas and other support spaces are designed as their own typology fulfilling the specific needs of its function and use. These separate building elements are connected by an atrium and circulation spaces. Building orientation allows optimum penetration and control of natural light in relationship to the differing programmatic elements of flexible laboratory space, support laboratories, office, and common areas. The separation of office and lab elements enabled the environmental control system to capture and reuse energy that would normally have been wasted. The building also has a specialized facade design that responds to the Houston climate.also has a specialized facade design that responds to the Houston climate.
Location: The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston | Houston, Texas
Size: 229,250 SF Completion: 2005
IMPACT + INNOVATION
Located on an urban site within the Texas Medical Center campus, the facility is designated to support research collaboration in the area of molecular medicine, particularly in genetics and proteomics and bioinformatics. The leaders of the Brown Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM) wanted the facility to be a model for collaborative science and research that encouraged both formal and informal interaction among all members of the research teams. From the relationship with the outdoors, to the architecture of the building, to the interior spaces, the approach considers form and function holistically, promoting the productivity and well-being of users. The Fayez S. Sarofim Research Center design was based on three underlying principles: place, collaboration and sustainability. The design focuses on creating a dynamic, interactive environment conducive to research and learning on multiple levels, embodying community building strategies that make the facility unusually extroverted in order to reveal and demystify the science within.
LONG LIFE LOOSE FIT
Flexible and Adaptable Space
∙ Flexible and Adaptable Research Facilities
∙ Institute Gateway and Community Center
∙ Designed to Encourage Collaboration
∙ Shared Support and Core Spaces
∙ Spacces Organized by Species, More Comfort, Less Energy
∙ Innovative Cascade Air Reuse System Reduces Waste and Increases Comfort
∙ HVAC Systems Deliver 35% Savings, Lighting 35%
∙ 48% Carbon Reduction in Cements
∙ 25% Construction Waste Reduction
∙ 35% Below Baseline EUI
AUDITORIUM FOR LECTURES
1. Accessible utility and service plenum
2. Modular ceiling and wall systems allow integrated lab partition installation
3. Integrated overhead hoods deliver power, gases, lighting, and other services
4. Enclosed alvoces house hoods and cabinets
5. Modular lab furniture is reconfigurable and on wheels
6. Sinks and plumbing organized along back wall
7. Flexible adaptable research lab 280 foot long
LONG LIFE LOOSE FIT
Flexible Lab Space
Flexible Research
Core/Support Lab
Collaboration
Office Workplace
PROCESS
The entire project team was committed to the highest aspirations for the Fayez S. Sarofim Research building. The process was a collaborative effort to seek a design response equaling the expectations and goals for the facility that were held by all of the stakeholders. The design team included representatives from each of the disciplines with complementary expertise. The equally large client group included representatives from The Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the University of Texas System Office of Facility Planning and Construction. The process was the key element that led the design from the initial idea to the building that stands today. To fully comprehend what was possible and, ultimately, what was the right course of action required a high level of participation from the client and users. The process was open and inclusive, founded in a method of holistic thinking called “integrated design,” which is achieved both through organized collaboration between disciplines and through the interweaving and interconnectivity of building systems. The progressive leadership of the IMM and the UT Health Science Center established a vision for collaborative science in both the laboratory and the architecture. By embracing that spirit of collaboration, the team created a laboratory founded upon the highest principles of scientific discovery, community, human health, fiscal responsibility and environmental stewardship, enabling the prevention of human diseases.
A HIGH-PERFORMANCE
BUILDING ENVELOPE with a terracotta rainscreen is designed to perform in the Houston climate
The team’s MASTER PLAN for a future adjacent academic campus positions the building as a campus hub
The location — one mile from the UT Medical School — is LINKED BY LIGHT RAIL system to the main campus
The building’s SEPARATE OFFICE AND LAB ELEMENTS utilize numerous HVAC design techniques to address the sensitive air requirements of laboratory buildings while increasing energy performance
A CENTRAL ATRIUM encourages informal interaction and provides an important community heart
SUSTAINABLE / NOTABLE FEATURES
• 229,250 SF facility
• 101,000 SF Laboratory Space
• 22,367 SF Offices, Support
• Prominent site along Bray’s Bayou in the Texas Medical Center
• Recipient of 9 Design Awards
• Designed to LEED Standards
• Conceived as a 100-year building
• Building orientation allows optimum penetration and control of natural light
• The building envelope is a terra cotta rain screen — a pressure-balanced system that reduces moisture penetration
• The reinforced concrete structure employs high fly ash concrete reducing the upstream environmental impact of the building
• The concept for this building is an “academic village” where a community of researchers, faculty, and students are engaged together in biomedical research and study
• Unique two-bar design that separates laboratory and office functions in to separate wings for energy optimization and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration
• Apex of two bar design enables informal exchange
• The Sarofim building was conceived as an organism with discrete parts or species. Each species is designed for individual functions with appropriate spatial configuration, mechanical system, lighting, furnishings, and other qualities to ensure the highest levels of health, comfort, productivity and innovation
• The Sarofim building houses dry and wet laboratories, offices, conferencing areas, a 200-seat assembly facility, vivarium and appropriate support spaces
• This facility is at once both an entire community to itself, complete with a sense of place, and an anchor for inviting future development within the planned campus
• The building is designed for long term flexibility, accommodating program changes and varying research parameters over time
• Lab spaces are open with custom designed overhead carriers to provide ventilation and a movable wall system to provide physical separation as needed
• Houses the IMM’s 10 research centers: Human Genetics, Cardiovascular Genetics, Diabetes and Obesity, Cell Signaling, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Stem Cells, Immunology and Autoimmune Diseases, Proteomics and Systems Biology, Molecular Imaging, Senator Lloyd Bentsen and B.A. Bentsen Center for Stroke Research
“The community has embraced the building as an ideal spot to host events and lectures. The water feature has been the greatest ‘discovery’ for many within the building and within the TMC campus. The south decks are now a daily place of interaction for staff during breaks.”
IRMA GIGLI, MD Director Emeritus, Brown foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine
AWARDS
2007 Merit Award, Architecture AIA Kansas
2007 Honor Award AIA Houston
2007 Texas Society of Architects Honor Award
2007 Design Award, Smooth Metal Walls Metal Architecture
2006 Texas Construction Magazine Best of Higher Education Award
2006 Merit Award AIA Kansas City
2006 Merit Award, Architecture AIA Central States Region
2005 Merit Award, Unbuilt AIA Houston
2004 Excellence in Architecture, Unbuilt AIA Kansas
“The building is a tremendous asset in the recruiting process. With BNIM’s leadership we were able to achieve a new paradigm for collaborative science and research.”
IRMA GIGLI, MD
Director
Emeritus,
Brown foundation Institute
of
Molecular Medicine
Therkildsen Industrial Engineering Building
A new ISU engineering facility enables innovative teaching, impactful research, and opportunities for collaboration to support the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering
The design of Therkildsen Industrial Engineering Building has been carefully and thoughtfully organized to foster community among industrial engineering scholars. This design creates a unique identity for the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, elevating and enhancing the student, faculty, and visitor experience with a collaborative, light-filled, and engaging spirit. The design expands the ability to effectively provide innovative teaching, impactful research, and community engagement through the following design goals:
– Provide a dynamic system of spaces that integrates teaching, learning, and research in an innovative academic facility
– Create an inviting and inclusive environment that encourages collaboration among students, faculty, staff, and industry partners while enhancing the sense of community for IMSE
– Create a facility for IMSE and the College of Engineering that fosters current program needs yet is adaptable, flexible, and resilient to evolve as the challenges of industry partners, curriculum, pedagogies, and research advances.
Location: Ames, Iowa
Certification: LEED Gold V4
IMPACT + INNOVATION
Spaces include advanced manufacturing lab and related shop facilities, flexible labs for collaboration with industry; immersive lab incorporating digital technologies, operational research labs, and human factors research labs. Teaching spaces include active learning classrooms, computer labs, and learning community collaborative settings. Administrative space is provided for departmental, faculty, and student services. The entire facility incorporates a spectrum of social and collaborative spaces to provide a sense of community throughout the building.
Engineering VI
Highest of aspirations for the research community in supporting clean and green technologies.
BNIM worked with the University of California, Los Angeles, to design a new facility for the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. The development of the Engineering VI building (Phase I) on the UCLA campus houses three primary driving Centers of Excellence in the field of nanosystems and clean technology and provides laboratories for new program initiatives in engineering instruction, and research. The total engineering complex is comprised of flexible wet and dry research laboratories; faculty, graduate and post-doc offices; conference spaces; supporting interaction space within various configurations; and a conference center that includes flexible meeting rooms and a 250-seat multi-functional auditorium. The facility is designed to foster collaboration inside and out by including meaningful outdoor courtyard spaces which provide a diversity of collaboration and gathering spaces. The design was a collaboration between BNIM as Co-Design Architect and Moore Ruble Yudell, which served as Architect of Record / Co-Design Architect.
Location: Los Angeles, California
Size: 61,000 SF
Completion: 2015
With Moore Ruble Yudell
SUSTAINABLE / NOTABLE FEATURES
• 61,625 SF facility
• Active chilled beams in dry labs
• Natural ventilation in post doc office suites – mixed-mode VAV
• Demand ventilation in wet labs to reduce air change rates
• Exhaust stream monitoring to reduce fan power
• Fume hood sash management by reduced height to reduce air changes
• Dry lab return air used as supply air in wet research support space alcoves
• Grey water system - reclaims waste RO process water for toilet flushing
• Façade shading element for solar heat gain control
IMPACT + INNOVATION
Engineering VI represents the highest of aspirations for the research community in supporting the advancement of clean and green technologies. The facility provides space for faculty and their industrial collaborators to perform research and development in energy harvesting, storage, conservation, and management. Engineering VI hosts over 30 researchers from Berkeley, Stanford, and UCLA to collaborate in research and
development important to humanity and our economy. As such, the facility was thoughtfully designed for collaborative, multidisciplinary research, and the building itself is thought of as an expression and armature of that research. The building’s design, including very generous operable bay windows, aim to demystify science and create greater awareness of the role engineering plays in bettering lives and the economy.
Human-Centered Computational Building
A place of sanctuary and connection within a rapidly expanding contextual environment
BNIM was selected to participate in a design charrette and conceptual design study for a California-based higher education institution’s Department of Computer Science. BNIM presented three design concepts that aimed to embody the University’s vision for a new Computational Building. The design sets high-performance goals on the path to net zero carbon, energy, and water use while emphasizing human-centered design in health and wellness, research and pedagogy, operational resilience and reliability, and equity. For three concepts — Central Heart, Outside In, and Inside Out — BNIM presented a series of design solutions that emphasize human experience through authentic placemaking, flexible organization, courtyard activation, connection to nature, paradigmatic and responsive buildings, humanpurposed spaces, collaboration, living lab and pedagogy, and research. The ‘Central Heart’ concept featured collaboration spaces which formed the interface between offices along the south façade and research spaces to the north, concentrating building movement and supporting a central heart of activity. The ‘Outside In’ concept included research spaces which opened up onto an exterior deck, bringing the outside in and allowing activity from the research spaces to activate the community. The ‘Inside Out’ concept featured all primary circulation with collaborative spaces pulled to the exterior.
Size: 108,339 SF
Collaboration spaces form the interface between offices along the south façade and research spaces to the north, concentrating building movement and supporting a central heart of activity.
2. Outside In
Research spaces open up onto an exterior deck, bringing the outside in. Activity spills out from the research spaces to these collaborative areas which activates the street edge.
3. Inside Out
All primary circulation with specific collaborative spaces are pulled to the exterior, turning inside out. This reduces indoor conditioned space, decreasing energy consumption and future operational costs.
1. Central Heart
University of Iowa Informatics Initiative (UI 3)
A technology-rich space designed for interdisciplinary collaboration
The University of Iowa Informatics Initiative (UI3) space incorporated various types of environments on the fifth floor of the College of Public Health Building to foster collaboration between researchers, graduate students, and staff from various disciplines across campus. To help form and define the vision for this collaborative environment, BNIM facilitated a series of meetings between the UI3 core team and multidisciplinary committee members, cluster faculty, and graduate students. The project is rich in innovative collaborative technologies, and significant collaboration occurred between the design team, users, and UI Information Technology Services. The latest technologies were incorporated into the design of this space, including wall monitors, writable wall surfaces, and digital touch walls. Mobile storage carts allowed a user to store materials within the space and take their work to any type of collaborative or private area based on their needs for the day. The space was also designed to be intentionally flexible, with operable walls in the collaboration and service rooms to allow for larger interactions.
Location: Iowa City, Iowa Size: 11,913 SF Completion: 2016
IMPACT + INNOVATION
Due to the diverse disciplines and backgrounds represented in the Informatics Initiative, the team realized the importance of integrating them with a single, unifying element. The design team chose inspirations that were based on genetics – a human data element and common thread that binds all of these disciplines together. Visual connections through and across the entire space inspire curiosity and promote engagement. The Informatics space brought together these individuals, who share a common pursuit, creating opportunities that lead to academic collaborations and innovations. The overarching organizational elements are bent linear ribbons, inspired by the graphic linearity of human genome mapping and the ribbon-like structure of DNA. Each bent ribbon captures a collaborative space. A central core of collaboration rooms spans east-west in the space, with a bent wood ribbon weaving them together. Bent white ribbons capture informal work and gathering spaces, serving as social collaboration zones. Focused work areas are located at the perimeter, providing acoustically protected space that also has a view to the outdoors and common areas, so users are comfortable and connected to the adjacent activity without interruption.
PROCESS
The design process for the Informatics Initiative project required an understanding of the spectrum of spaces necessary to support various fields of study within one dynamic facility. In this space, the UI3 brought together brain scientists, engineers, nursing faculty, arts faculty, and more, to study big data and produce collaborative research proposals. During the programming process, the team determined that people — and the connections between them — were the most important element that a space can offer. The design was shaped by organizing a spectrum of spaces that support various modes
of work to optimize interactions, interweave relationships, and promote visual connections while respecting appropriate levels of privacy. The building provides large flexible classrooms with integrated technology, private meeting and study rooms, common areas that created opportunities for researchers to interact in a casual environment. Supporting the many ways in which students assemble and learn from each other, this renovation within the College of Public Health Building helped foster collaborations, scholarship, and training.
AWARDS
IIDA Mid-America Design Awards
Gold Award, Higher Education, Research 2017
“Working with BNIM was great. They were very collaborative and worked with us to help us better define our needs and vision, and then they came up with a wonderful design. We wanted to create a space that would help us bring the Informatics community together — from all corners of the University, from art to medicine — to foster collaborations, scholarship, and training.”
GREGORY CARMICHAEL Director
University of Iowa Informatics Initiative
Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center
A facility illustrating the principles that life sciences embody: research, teaching and education
The Life Sciences Center at the University of Missouri unites faculty and students from several schools and programs into one, collaboratively focused research center. The Colleges of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, Arts and Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, Human and Environmental Sciences Engineering, and the School of Medicine engage in joint research into genomic and biomolecular structures. State-ofthe-art laboratories, shared meeting areas and public spaces provide unsurpassed opportunities for interdisciplinary biomedical science and agricultural biotechnology research. With the idea that a healthy building illustrates the principles that life sciences embody, research, teaching and education converge in naturally daylit laboratory spaces, generous meeting areas, and informal teaming areas located off of the primary circulation spaces. The atrium, which centralizes faculty and research offices, a café and one of the reading rooms, encourages interaction. The project was completed in collaboration with coproject designer, Anshen + Allen.
Size: 239,714 GSF
Completion: 2004
Location: Columbia, MO
“The Center is kind of a catalyst that brings people together doing such different things.”
MANNIE LISCUM
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES PROFESSOR AND ASSOCIATE DEAN OF GRADUATE STUDIES
IMPACT + INNOVATION
The building’s architecture is designed to symbolize the forward-thinking, leadingedge science taking place within, while respecting the university’s established legacy. The building helps welcome existing faculty and new recruits, is host to national meetings, and experiences consistent use from students, faculty, and visitors in atrium, café, and informal meeting spaces. With approximately 3% of faculty at MU, the Life Sciences Center generates approximately 10% of competitively funded research expenditures at MU. In 2020, Life Sciences Center investigators submitted 19 proposals totaling $9M for COVID-19 related research. The project was bid more than one million dollars below final estimates, allowing for the construction of several alternates.
“Most researchers would argue that, when it comes to science, collaboration is central to success. Just over a decade ago an MU experiment in brick and mortar set out to prove it. Today the Bond Life Sciences Center has largely confirmed its planners’ vision, demonstrating to scientists and scholars here at MU and around the world that, if knowledge is power, then shared knowledge is power2.
“This place is intended to be a coordinated organism, not a hotel for good scientists,” said Jack Schultz, director of the Bond LSC since 2007. “It’s been a fascinating but slow process to see investigators gain from working with others outside of their field who overlap in an aspect of their research.”
Both the National Academy of Sciences and National Institutes of Health (NIH) agree this sort of convergent science, cutting across disciplines, is the future. The former highlighted the Bond LSC in a 2014 report as among those programs that excel in being exceptionally “nimble in their focus” of steering faculty toward interdisciplinary convergence and novel research approaches.” Excerpt from Discovery - Bond Lifescience Center Annual Report 2014
"The Building has been set up with lots of what we call ‘collision zones.’ In Chemistry, when things collide you get a reaction. When two people can interact in a hall or corner and discuss an idea, that's when you get new ideas and new things happening. Students see how this happens and they grow and thrive under this."
DR. G. MICHAEL CHIPPENDALE
PH.D. PROFESSOR EMERITUS
AWARDS
2005 Honor Award, Excellence in Architecture
AIA Kansas
2005 Merit Award
AIA Mid-Missouri
The MU Bond Lifesciences Building has since 2016 received federal competitive grants totalling -
FY18
FY19
FY20
$13.3 M
$16.8 M
$15.2 M
Overall, with approximately 3% of faculty at MU, the LSC generates approximately 10% of competitively funded research expenditures at MU.
Blunt Hall College of Natural and Applied Sciences
A transformational addition and renovation project unites multiple disciplines within one cohesive facility to support learning, collaboration, and research.
MSU Roy Blunt Hall houses the College of Natural and Applied Sciences Program (CNAS) and serves as a hub for the College. The addition and renovation will bring together the three primary departments of Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Geography, Geology & Planning (GGP), while improving flexibility and usability of spaces within Roy Blunt Hall. The addition and renovation are envisioned to include state-ofthe-art, flexible teaching and research laboratories for each of the three departments. Roy Blunt Hall will serve as a welcoming place for current and prospective students while showcasing the research and programs within. Human-purposed design strategies will include increased access to natural light, connections to nature, outside views, and more comfortable, usable spaces.
Location: Springfield, MO
Size: 239,714 SF
The journey of Roy Blunt Hall on MSU campus bookends the history of BNIM and holds a special significance for our team with one of the building’s original designers being Tom Nelson, a founding principal of our firm. Tom contributed to the design of the original building in 1971 while with Kivett & Myers. Five decades later, BNIM is collaborating with MSU on the renovation and addition that will lead Roy Blunt Hall into its next era of learning, teaching, and research. BNIM is working closely with MSU to reinterpret the architectural cues of the existing building in a contemporary way. With intentionality and respect for its legacy and surrounding context, the MSU Roy Blunt Hall addition and renovation will reflect the notable features that make the building a unique part of MSU campus architecture while also addressing modern needs of the CNAS programs to strengthen Roy Blunt Hall’s presence on campus. Building on the 2020 CNAS Master Plan conducted by MSU as well as the goals and needs identified by CNAS stakeholder groups, the design for Temple Hall was informed and inspired by three primary themes: Enable Research, Increase Visibility for Science, and Provide for the Future of CNAS and Temple Hall.
The needs, goals, and feedback from the CNAS and University community was integral in shaping the future vision for Roy Blunt Hall. BNIM’s design team worked attentively with a core team of MSU representatives including MSU’s Dean, university architect, project manager, facilities staff, and department heads from the CNAS program. As equally essential to the design process were the perspectives and voices of the students, faculty, and researchers as part of the CNAS community who will engage with Roy Blunt Hall each day to fundamentally determine the framework of the design.
BNIM held an open house for students and faculty; met with MSU’s advisory groups focused on sustainability, equity, and ADA guidelines; and held in-depth discussions with researchers and our team’s laboratory consultant to understand specific research and laboratory requirements in order to guide design development. Part of BNIM’s engagement process involves the use of collaborative, online whiteboards, such as Miro and Mural, to have real-time discussion, conduct workshopping, and trial ideas with clients and collaborators.
FASTER Feasibility Study and Programming
The master planning and programming study for the College of Agriculture at Kansas State University (KSU) was a comprehensive study that evaluated over 1.1M SF of existing facilities. BNIM worked with 11 departmental groups to create a phased concept design with the overall goal to elevate the College of Agriculture from a top 20 program into the top 5 national ranking. The study identified an additional need for 125,000 SF of research space; 59,000 SF of teaching space; 79,000 SF of office space; and 122,000 SF of greenhouse space. The proposed expansion will be addressed by two new buildings and three new greenhouses; and renovating existing space.
Location: Kansas State University | Manhattan, Kansas
Size: 246,400 SF
Advanced Technology Laboratories
The IATL Renovation and Addition creates a new identity and convening home for the Department of Computer Sciences on the University of Iowa campus, fostering student engagement, multi-disciplinary collaboration, and innovation and flexibility for the future.
Formerly, the University of Iowa’s Computer Science Department was dispersed across several buildings on campus. The IATL Renovation and Addition will create a new identity and unified home for the Department through the renovation of two floors of the existing west wing along with a new addition, which was originally planned by Frank Gehry but never completed with the exception of a structural foundation system. This existing structural foundation is intended to be utilized for the footprint of the new addition in support of a holistic low-carbon approach.
Student collaboration spaces along with connected meeting and support spaces will serve as the heart of the new home for computer science with a goal to encourage interaction, access to people and resources, and foster engagement in computing and algorithmic thinking, creating environments where students and faculty want to be. A mix of flexible teaching and research labs support the multidisciplinary work within the department and their ability to adapt to evolving technology, practices, and research needs.
Location: Iowa City, Iowa
PCC Research and Developement Building
A dynamic, indoor-outdoor campus environment provides a spectrum of workplace spaces that inspire employee well-being and productivity.
BNIM led the initial Campus Master Plan and Conceptual Design process for the Pacific Center Campus Development. Following this process, BNIM was again selected to lead the design of a two-building campus expansion.
The Research and Development (R&D) Building accommodates new office and laboratory spaces. Interior environments focus on enhancing employees’ individual surroundings to be more comfortable, inspiring, and healthier. Laboratories are centrally located with adjacent workplaces for teams to interact seamlessly with the research environment. Conference spaces are located at the building’s central gathering space to foster interaction, collaboration and innovation. The design approach for the R&D Building organized each of these program components distinctly, optimized them for each specific use to increase their individual performance and fully serve the needs of each user and the larger development.
Location: San Diego, CA
Size: 357,000 SF
Completion: 2014
LEED Gold Certified
IMPACT + INNOVATION
The Research and Development Building’s humanpurposed, high-performance strategies have led to a 16-18% employee productivity increase. The design provides daylight throughout the building and views to the outdoors by utilizing east/west orientation and narrow floor plates, resulting in 84% floor area or work station with direct views of the outdoors and use of daylighting rather than artificial light sources. Visible and day-lit indoor and outdoor stairs connect the floors to each other and to the ground plain. The Research and Development Building, along with the Amenities Building, has received LEED Gold certification and was designed to optimize passive design strategies to achieve high-performance results. The new buildings are integrated into an overall campus environment that is organized around properly scaled public spaces, public amenities, and clear circulation systems. The campus experience aims to provide a dynamic social environment for employees, fostering a spirit of community while creating high-quality interior workplace environments to boost employee productivity.
PROCESS
As part of BNIM’s human-purposed, integrated design process, the team held multiple visioning sessions, departmental interviews, and surveys with the company’s most valuable asset – its people. These sessions and data provided feedback that produced the guiding principles and identified an overarching goal: create a facility to attract and retain the top talent in the industry. The team set out to accomplish this goal by upending the idea of the traditional workplace and creating an environment that appealed to basic human nature. Major program components were organized to provide future flexibility, social interactions along the clear circulation systems and collaborative spaces while having clearly defined focus areas for the office and research spaces.
38
Predicted Net EUI
48% Predicted reduction from national EUI for building type
1 Operable windows faciliate natural cross ventilation
2 Full glazing to maximize diffused north daylight
3 Horizontal louvers shade south daylight and reflect diffused daylight deep into the space
4 Bioswell treats roof top water
5 Concrete thermal mass structrue
6 Reflective roof designed for future pv
7 Modular wet land for site water runoff
8 Vav mechanical system
9 Drought tolerant plantings
10 Narrow floor plate to mazimize natural ventilation and daylight penetration
16-18% productivity increase
84%
Floor area or occupant work stations with direct views of the outdoors
35%
Floor area or occupant work stations within 30’ of operable windows
84%
Floor area or occupant work stations achieving adequate light levels without the use of artificial lighting
“One of the things that really struck was the deliberate, beautiful, elegant way that the designers worked to connect people, but to also connect to the natural setting. No only in terms of the massing of the project, down to the details, the view, the light, how the buildings related to each other and created the courtyard as the centerpiece of all that.”
AIA KANSAS CITY JURY COMMENTS, 2016
“PCC makes the everyday experience, and the health and well-being of the employee a top priority. The project goes beyond challanging the typical office building by becoming a lively and appropriate part of its environment.”
AIA IOWA EXCELLENCE IN DESIGN AWARDS
95% regularly occupied spaces with access to daylight + views
Diverting materials from the waste stream was a priority. The following metrics also speak to this priority:
32%
Building materials with recycled content (by cost)
27%
Building materials with regional materials (by cost)
97%
Virgin wood products in the building that use FSC wood
76%
Construction waste diverted from local landfills
36% reduction in potable water (baselines LEED 2009)
81% reduction in potable water consumption for landscaping
1 Bioswale treats roof top water
2 Modular wet land treats site run off water
“We loved the spacemaking — bending the bars and shaping them to create space in the center of essentially mini campus, as well as the connection to the larger setting and the views beyond.”
AIA KANSAS CITY JURY COMMENTS, 2016
AWARDS
The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture American Architectural Award 2018
ASLA Southern California Honor, Landscape Design Awards 2018
AIA California Council Merit, Design Excellence Awards 2018
The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture & Design & The European Centre for Architecture Art Green Good Design Award 2017
International Interior Design Association (IIDA)
Gold Mid-America Design Awards (MADA), Corporate-Large 2017
Architizer A+Awards
Special Mention, Office – Mid Rise 2017
ENR California
Best Project, Southern California, Office/Retail/Mixed Use 2016
AIA San Diego Honor, Excellence in Architecture 2016
AIA Kansas City
Merit, Design Excellence Awards 2016
AIA Kansas Merit, Design Excellence Awards 2016
AIA Iowa
Merit, Excellence in Architecture 2016
Structural Engineers Association of San Diego (SEAOSD)
Excellence in Structural Engineering Award, New Construction 2015
Structural Engineers Association of San Diego (SEAOSD) People’s Choice Award 2015
ACI San Diego Chapter 2014 Commercial Building Award 2015
Pacific Center Campus Amenities Building
A dynamic, indoor-outdoor campus environment provides a spectrum of workplace spaces that inspire employee well-being and productivity.
BNIM led the initial Campus Master Plan and Conceptual Design process for the Pacific Center Campus Development. Following this process, BNIM was again selected to lead the design of a two-building campus expansion.
The Amenities Building houses the conference center, dining facility, 300-seat auditorium, fitness center, health center, and multi-purpose rooms. The conference facility provides meeting and learning spaces that are flexible to accommodate varying group sizes while presenting new models for collaborative learning environments. The great hall within the dining space is a transparent pavilion with direct connections to outdoor dining terraces overlooking the sports field and entry courtyard. The fitness facility is located on the second floor with adjacent roof terraces to host outdoor fitness classes. The “Center for the Future of Health” is an environment designed to inspire the next generation of health centers, including an optometry exam room and store, physical therapy, acupuncture, meditation, telemedicine room, triage room and six exam rooms.
Location: San Diego, California
Size: 50,000 GSF
Completion: 2014
LEED Gold Certified
IMPACT + INNOVATION
The Amenities Building serves as a living example of the integration of building and site technologies to achieve environmental sensitivity. The Amenities Building, along with the Research and Development Building, has received LEED Gold certification and was designed to optimize passive design strategies to achieve high-performance results. The new buildings are integrated into an overall campus environment that is organized around properly scaled public spaces, public amenities, and clear circulation systems. The campus experience aims to provide a dynamic social environment for employees, fostering a spirit of community while creating highquality interior workplace environments to boost employee productivity. By utilizing passive design strategies, including natural ventilation, thermal mass, a green roof, and exterior shading, the project is able to pull in the outdoor environment and provide a comfortable interior environment in ways that support the project design and achieve these goals.
PROCESS
The program for the Pacific Center Campus Amenities Building was derived from a visioning process that identified employees’ priorities and combined dining, training, exercise, and wellness services into a single building. Health and wellness were key aspects of the design objectives, thus, the design focused on connecting employees to nature, daylight, views, and connecting people to each other to create a sense of community. On the ground level, the hall within the dining center is a transparent pavilion with connections to dining terraces on the courtyard. The conference center, which also opens to the courtyard, is a multifunction event space that can be divided into separate rooms. To maximize the amount of usable area on the campus, the design team considered the space between each building, extending the campus experience to the outdoors. Mounting evidence that exposure to daylight produces healthier and happier people was a key factor in the design parti. More than 95% of regularly occupied spaces have daylight and views, due to the vast glazing at the north and south elevations.
• 91% of regularly occupied spaces provided with daylight and views (excluding the auditorium)
• 112-136 kBTU/sf/year modeled performance (vs 140 kBtu/sf/year energy budget of baseline building)
• 25% saving beyond code minimum
• More than 78% of on-site generated construction waste was diverted from landfills
• 26% of total materials content, by value, were manufactured using recycled materials
• 5% of the matterials used were salvaged
• 13% of the total building materials value includes materials and products that were manufactured and extracted within 500 miles of the project site
• 34% total water reduction
• 64% total processed kitchen water savings
• 90% of stormwater runoff water passes through self-treating green roof modular wetland system
DAYLIGHT
1 narrow floor plate to moximize natural ventilation and daylight penetration.
2 full glazing to maximize diffused northern daylight.
3 angle of sun in the summer.
4 angle of sun in the winter.
5 horizontal louvers shade south daylight and reflect diffused light deep into the space.
6 light sensor
7 unobstructed views out
8 daylight responsive artificial ligthing
NATURAL VENTILATION
1 narrow floor plate maximizes natural ventilation
2 operable windows facilitate natural ventilation
3 ceiling fans circulate air
4 cross natural ventilation
“The Amenities Building is masterful in doing what some of the best archittecture does by integrating with the landscape and defining great exterior space.”
AIA IOWA COMMENTS, 2017
“The Amenities Building succeeds in creating a porous yet well-defined space on the campus, appropriate to its shared amenities purpose. Its strong plan holds the circulation and outdoor deck to the perimeter, activating the court at ground level and above. It encourages and supports the indooroutdoor lifestyle of the San Diego climate.”
AIA CENTRAL STATES JURY COMMENTS, 2016
AWARDS
ASLA Southern California
Honor, Landscape Design Awards 2018
The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture & Design & The European Centre for Architecture Art
American Architecture Award
2017
International Interior Design Association (IIDA)
Gold, Mid-America Design Awards (MADA), Corporate-Large 2017
Architizer A+Awards
Special Mention, Office-Mid Rise 2017
American Concrete Institute,
San Diego Chapter
Commercial Structure Award 2017
AIA Kansas City
Merit, Architecture, Design Excellence Awards 2017
AIA Kansas
Merit, Architecture, Design Excellence Awards 2017
AIA Iowa
Honor, Excellence in Design 2017
AIA California Council
Merit, Design Awards 2017
ENR California
Best Project – Southern California, Office/Retail/Mixed Use 2016
AIA Central States Region
Merit, Achitecture, Design Excellence Awards 2016
San Diego Architectural Foundation (SDAF)
People’s Choice, Orchids and Onions Awards 2015
Pacific Center Campus Master Plan
A dynamic, indoor-outdoor campus environment provides a spectrum of workplace spaces that inspire employee well-being and productivity.
BNIM led the initial Campus Master Plan and Conceptual Design process for the Pacific Center Campus Development in San Diego, California. The master plan was developed as a deeply sustainable and powerful tool to support recruitment, boost productivity and enhance the corporate values of a Fortune 500 company – innovation | execution | partnerships. The master plan concept was focused on transforming the existing site from a vehicle-oriented development to a pedestrianoriented campus environment.
The master plan design presents opportunities with the other adjacent properties to expand the vision and, in the future, link all of the Fortune 500 company’s facilities into a master corporate campus. An initial opportunity included a new native trail through the Pacific Center Campus Development connecting to the Lopez Canyon trail on the north of the site. This actively used natural amenity provides employees with new connections to the natural environment throughout the campus. The campus design also creates a strong connection to the “Four Corners,” a unique location where the company owns four adjacent buildings and a new opportunity to create a gateway connecting multiple developments.
The overall campus design weaves together natural free flowing spaces with refined, public-spirited environments as a common theme, which defines the new campus vision and embraces strong sustainable site strategies for water systems and native ecosystems. The master plan includes a hierarchy of spaces, pedestrian connections and site amenities to knit all of the existing buildings together with the new development into a cohesive holistic campus environment.
Location: San Diego, California
Size: 912,867 SF
Completion: 2012
