Singapore R&D campus takes top honor in Lab of Year competition

The Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), Singapore, has been named Laboratory of the Year by R&D Magazine. Now in its 47th year, the competition recognizes excellence in research and science laboratory design, planning, and construction.

Designed by Perkins+Will, the CREATE facility is a collaborative project led by the Singapore National Research Foundation, involving Singapore-based research institutions as well as participating international universities and multinational corporations. The campus, encompassing ~67,000 sm in four buildings, is intended to support the work of ~1,200 researchers. Current participants include the National University of Singapore, MIT, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the Technical University of Munich, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, UC-Berkeley, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ben-Gurion University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Cambridge University. The buildings take advantage of the tropical climate, using wind turbines, green roofs, and daylighting as integral parts of the design.

The Georgia Institute of Technology Carbon-Neutral Energy Solutions Laboratory, Atlanta, received High Honors. The 42,000-sf LEED Platinum lab, incorporating interdisciplinary high-bay space, was designed by HDR Architecture. Sustainable features include passive energy technologies, high-tech glazing including a PV screen wall, high-efficiency lighting, energy recovery, radiant heating, and displacement ventilation.

Two Special Mentions, honoring aspects of a project, were awarded. The District of Columbia Consolidated Forensic Laboratory, by HOK, was given for the facility's excellence in providing space for collaborative science. This 287,000-sf building supports public health and forensic science departments for Washington, D.C., and is targeting LEED Gold. 

The Sherman Fairchild Biochemistry Laboratory at Harvard University received a Special Mention for renovation. Payette Associates designed the project, which created a new home for the Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Department in a lab built in 1981. The renovation achieved LEED Platinum.

(http://www.labdesignnews.com/news/2013/02/laboratory-year-awards-announced)