Dow Innovation Center
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Award of Merit
Owners King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; Dow Chemical
Design Firm & Structural Engineer HOK
Contractor NESMA & Partners Co. Ltd.
Civil Engineer LJA Engineering
MEP & Fire Protection Engineer R.G. Vanderweil Engineers LLP
Lab Planner Kirksey Architecture
Over the course of three-and-a-half years of construction, the project team building the 142,400-sq-ft, three-story Dow Water and Process Solutions Laboratory logged more than 4.7 million worker hours without a lost-time incident or accident of any kind. The impressive safety record came despite the language challenges faced by the project team, which comprised three U.S.-based design and planning firms, a Saudi Arabian contractor and U.S.-based Dow Chemical, the project owner. The research facility—delivered by architect HOK, lab-planning firm Kirksey Architecture, R.G. Vanderweil Engineers LLP and contractor NESMA & Partners—includes high-bay space and chemistry laboratories, 1,900 sq meters of office space and 2,750 sq m of support/MEP/storage space. To save water, contractors installed a tankage system to collect condensate from the air handlers, to be used for irrigation, the fire suppression sprinkler system and other applications.
