Innovative biomedical research facility breaks ground in Atlanta
Emory University (Atlanta, GA) has broken ground on a state-of-the-art research facility that will focus on innovation, synergy, and impact for biomedical research. The new facility, Health Sciences Research Building II (HSRB II), will be built on Haygood Drive beside its sister facility, Health Sciences Research Building I, which opened in 2013.
Plans for HSRB II include six stories above-ground and two stories below-ground, offering more than 346,000 sq. ft. of dedicated research space for bioimaging, biomedical engineering, cardiovascular medicine, child health (including cancer), adult cancer, inflammation, immunity and immunotherapeutics, emerging infections, and other cutting-edge interdisciplinary research programs.
The new facility will be funded in part from a $400 million gift from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, with $200 million of that gift directed for biomedical research. The additional $200 million will help build Emory’s newest cancer facility, Winship at Midtown, which broke ground in November 2019 at Emory University Hospital Midtown.
Core research functions in the building will include advanced imaging, flow cytometry, a biorepository for storing biological material, genomics, and other state-of-the-art technologies. The building will include both laboratory and collaborative space for researchers. An innovation zone, including an accelerator space for startups and entrepreneurial research, is planned to promote translation of scientific discoveries.
The design for the new building will promote efficiency and sustainability efforts such as aggressive energy use reduction, including occupancy sensors for interior lighting control, automated shades for limiting heat gain and glare control, and a solar panel array; a green roof plaza along the side of the building facing Emory’s Lullwater Preserve; a geothermal well field below the surface parking; permeable paving at the surface parking; a rainwater capture system; and indoor bicycle storage. The building is targeting LEED Gold Certification upon completion.
Construction is slated to begin in January 2020, with a targeted completion date of April 2022. Global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm HOK is designing the new HSRB II, with JE Dunn Construction building the facility.
For more information, please visit whsc.emory.edu.
Source: Emory University press release - 12/11/19
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