Overview
The University of South Carolina developed an innovative plan to marry private research with public research. The plan was to build a new district where these two entities could co-locate and interact more easily, the name for the plan is Innovista. The Innovista district at USC is planned for multiple public buildings (for USC), and multiple privately built buildings built on leased USC property. The Discovery I Biomedical Research building was one of the first buildings built for USC.
Discovery I is the University’s newest laboratory for the research of cancer related diseases, not only in the Innovista district, but campus wide. The facility contains 125,000 SF wet laboratory that incorporates a 10,000 SF vivarium (animal holding facility). Approximately 15,000 SF of the building is dedicated to office space and space for cancer prevention education and community outreach including a demonstration kitchen. The building was designed to meet the requirements of the US Green Building Council LEED programs to achieve a LEED Gold certification.
Engineering Highlights
- Air handling unit systems utilize enthalpy energy recovery wheels for the lab spaces reclaim energy that would be typically lost within the exhaust air streams.
- While both building and vivarium air handling systems are tied to the campus chilled water and steam systems, the vivarium has complete backup using refrigerant based condensing systems to meet AAALAC accreditation.
- All outside air is also pre-conditioned via an enthalpy energy recovery wheel, this concept provides an estimated 50% energy savings from traditional systems as the outside air volume is significant considering the multi-purpose use of the building.
