Lab of a Different Color

Originally founded in 1961 in response to the sudden expansion of Dallas-based Texas Instruments, the University of Texas at Dallas was born of high ambitions to draw the nation’s greatest scientific and mathematical minds to its halls. Today, the university boasts one of the highest rates of computer-science graduates of any higher-education institution in the U.S.

A renewed fervor to stay on the cutting edge of research and inspire even greater enrollment in its math and science programs led to the design and construction of a new, state-of-the-art laboratory. The flexible facility would serve the needs of multiple disciplines, add to the beauty of the campus and provide a centerpiece to the campus’ north entrance. It would house offices for faculty, graduate students and administration, as well as provide flexible laboratory space for electrical engineering, material science, biology, chemistry, physics and neuroscience studies.

Los Angeles-based design firm Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP was brought on to bring life to the Natural Science and Engineering Research Laboratory. “The intention of the building was, from a campus perspective, to create a new main entrance,” says Ted Alan Hyman, AIA, a partner with Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects and the partner in charge of the project. “They wanted to plant the flag for research on campus, so the image of the building was intended to be very cutting edge and reflective of the kind of science being performed inside the building.”

The 190,195-square-foot (17669-m2) laboratory facility encompasses an array of scientific disciplines. The intent was to create a modular space that could be used by students and researchers of all kinds. “We interviewed representatives from each of the four departments and learned they were crossing all the lines defining the sciences; so we suggested they leave the constraints of the traditional departmental boundaries behind, making this a truly interdisciplinary building,” Hyman recalls. “We weren’t designing chemistry labs or biology labs; we were looking to design labs that were flexible and could be used for anything.”

This was a somewhat unconventional approach to designing laboratory space— something the design team and the end users knew all too well. “When the university agreed to the idea, there was a bit of trepidation and disbelief on our part,” Hyman admits. “But it’s actually worked out very well. Because it’s a relatively new school and there wasn’t a lot of baggage between the different departments, they’ve really managed to operate an interdisciplinary building; you walk through and don’t know if you’re in a chemistry building or a physics building. It’s just a laboratory building where people are collaborating with each other.”

The interior environment is open and adaptable to encourage interaction and collaboration among students and researchers. Cabinets are on wheels, and tables are not attached to the floor. Partitions and doors can be relocated and rooms can be expanded or contracted without reconstructing the framing or building systems.

Blinded By Science
To create a structure that blends with the existing campus, yet stands out as a beacon to potential students, the design team used a combination of buff-colored precast concrete, glass curtainwall and metal. The precast grounds the building into the aesthetic context of the other university buildings while the metal and glass add an eye-grabbing, transcendent quality.

Stainless-steel shingles appear to change color throughout the day from a reddishorange to purple. “This material has a life to it that you don’t normally get out of a painted metal,” Hyman says. “It changes color as you move around it and as the sun moves across it. It’s unique because there is no coloring on the shingles; it’s just oxidized metal. What you’re seeing is light being reflected back through the oxidation.”

The metal shingles are made from a polished stainless steel that has been dipped in acid and washed off to create the oxidation. The shingles won’t rust and are virtually maintenance free. The color effect created by the process has great advantages, particularly in the harsh sun of Dallas. “Painted metal doesn’t hold up very well in Texas,” Hyman says. “In 10 years the client wouldn’t be very happy with us. But this material doesn’t fade at all. What you see today is what you’ll see in 20 years. The only maintenance is to hose it off with water if it gets dirty.”

Easy Installation
While the look of the material is unique and high-tech, installing it was as simple as can be. “The shingles just clip on; almost the same way you would attach shingles on a house,” Hyman explains. “The technology behind attaching them to the building is very low tech and cost effective. The budget on this project was not luxurious, so we had to look at ways to give the building some life with a limited amount of money. This is a fairly inexpensive material that is cost-effective to install, incredibly easy to maintain and oh, by the way, it looks good.”

The facility opened in December 2006 and the university, which was actively engaged in the project from start to finish, has been pleased with the results. “Every so often you get a really collaborative relationship with a user group, and this was also the case with the facilities group [at the University of Texas at Dallas],” Hyman says. “They wanted to create something very unique on the campus and were very supportive of our design.”

Along with the functional goals of the laboratory, recruitment was very much on the mind of the administration, which is looking to draw minds from top-tier institutions around the country to Dallas. “From a recruitment perspective, the university wanted to create a sense of excitement for people seeing the building,” Hyman says. “The word from the deans is that the new laboratory building has been very helpful for recruiting and representing the science of the university. It really has changed the image of the campus.”

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The Natural Science and Engineering Laboratory, Dallas

• Owner // The University of Texas at Dallas, www.utdallas.edu  
• Design architect // Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP, Los Angeles, www.zgf.com  
• Architect of record and mechanical/electrical/plumbing engineer // PageSoutherlandPage, Dallas, www.pspaec.com  
• Laboratory planner // Jacobs Consultancy (formerly known as GPR Planners Collaborative), New York, www.gprplanners.com  
• Structural and civil engineer // Datum Engineers, Dallas, www.datumengineers.com
• General contractor // Balfour Beatty Construction, Dallas, www.balfourbeattyus.com Metal fabricator and installer NOW Specialties, Carrollton, Texas, www.nowspecialties.com
• Stainless-steel shingles // Rimex Metals, Middlesex, England, www.rimexmetals.com