LOCATION: Raleigh, NC
PROJECT SIZE: 80,000 SQ FT
PROJECT COST: $24,000,000
North Carolina State University’s Partners III building is located within the Biosciences Cluster/Biotechnology Crescent on Centennial Campus. The building was designed as a core and shell facility with the flexibility to accommodate both lab and office space. The buildings infrastructure is intended to be expandable to accommodate the various tenants who may occupy the building. Prior to construction, it was determined that the building would house University based research groups from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and Physical and Mathematical Science (PAMS).
The building accommodates the needs of the university’s Nano-Science research activities including Physics, Chemistry, Theory and Structures. It also provides labs for Metabolic Engineering, Fungal Genomics and Viral Genomics. The rectangular shape of the 80,000 Sq. Ft. building allows for flexible/efficient laboratory and office space which accommodates a variety of tenants and their changing needs.
An important driver of the Center's planning is the programmatic stratification of lab uses. Analytical and research “dry” labs are primarily located on the first and second floors to minimize exhaust risers through the floors above. Scanning probe microscopes and lasers that are vibration sensitive are located on the slab-on-grade portion of the first floor to minimize vibration. Chemistry wet labs that are fume hood intensive occupy the third floor for ease of exhausting the air at roof level.
The entrance has been developed as a unique element to provide easy identification along the pedestrian path, which connects the 260-space parking structure (also by Freelon) and the proposed buildings across Main Campus Drive.