High-Tech Solar Energy Research Center Breaks Ground in Berkeley
A new Solar Energy Research Center (SERC) in Berkeley aims not only to create green energy through artificial photosynthesis technology; it is designed to operate sustainably, shooting for a LEED Gold Rating.
“This is a very high-tech project and the science on it is super exciting,” says Suzanne Napier, principal in charge for SmithGroup JJR, San Francisco, the project’s designer.
Located on the campus of UC Berkeley, the $54-million SERC building broke ground October 19 and will become part of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory complex conducting scientific research.
The mission of the project is to create sustainable, carbon-neutral sources of energy, with a focus on the generation of new photovoltaic solutions developed within vibration-sensitive laboratories.
When envisioning the facility, the project team wanted the three-story structure close to other existing hi-tech labs, so researchers could have a small core group of collaborative and interactive research buildings. Because of this, the 40,000-sq-ft SERC was designed to fit into a small footprint.
“The project site is very confined,” says Rich Henry of McCarthy Building Companies, San Francisco, the project’s contractor. “It sits on a hill, on a high-security campus, and is bound on all sides by existing buildings and a main access road through campus; the project literally takes up almost every inch of the site.”
Henry, who is president of the company’s Northern Pacific Division, says an enormous amount of planning has gone into making sure the building fits in place, as its foundations come within a few yards of other foundations, and another construction crew.
“When you are working this close to somebody else you have to significantly communicate in advance everything that is going on,” says Henry. “You have to have a very detailed plan that you coordinate with the other builder, so lines of communication are very frequent.”
Napier also recognized site constraints.
“One of the biggest architectural challenges on this project is the tight and topographically steep site,” says Napier. She says with another new building going up about 15 ft away from this project, her team decided to create an oversized first-level floor plate. This would give SERC a large, stable area on the first floor for its abundant vibration sensitive equipment, and also create an engaging outdoor plaza space.
“This vibration-sensitive slab on grade space is immensely valuable to LBNL,” says Napier. “And it is very costly to do this type of vibration control on upper levels because you have to do very expensive structural design.”
The first-level floor plate measures about 20,000 sq ft, or approximately half of the building’s square footage. Because it is built into a hill, the first floor will be partly buried on two sides, with the open portion doubling as plaza space.
“This plaza level connects to another new building being constructed adjacent to this one and acts as a collaborator collector between the two buildings,” says Napier. “And that’s how we solved the small foot print challenge.”
Henry says to reduce building vibration on the first-floor slab, McCarthy is using extra large foundations. He says the foundations consist of 8-ft-wide by 2-ft-thick, T-shaped footings that wrap around the perimeter of the building and go down about six feet. He says the thickened slab is 11 to 18 inches thick, with isolation joints on all four sides.
Consistent with the research agenda of SERC, the building is set to achieve at least a LEED Silver rating, but is aiming for Gold. The facility will incorporate energy-efficient features such as a runaround heat recovery system; evaporative pre-cooling hybrid system; lower approach cooling tower; ultra-low air pressure drop air handling unit; daylight harvesting (photosensor-based automatic light dimming), and a green roof.
When complete in summer 2014, SERC will house research laboratories and offices for the ">Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), which is devoted to research and technology development of a solar fuel generator. These will include methods for synthesizing new light absorbing materials. The goal is to develop prototype artificial photo-systems capable of producing a fuel from sunlight ten times more efficient than current crops, while only using non-arable land.
