IDC Architects

The Nebraska Center for Virology's (NCV) vision is to create a nationally recognized center of biomedical research excellence by creating infrastructure linking the virology programs of three institutions: University of Nebraska-Lincoln, UN Medical Center, and Creighton University. The 70,000 SF building will be NCV's first home in which the varied research disciplines are located together. The building will provide a research facility designed to foster interaction and collaboration among researchers, visiting fellows, students, and staff. It will include laboratories for 12 scientists plus spaces for tissue culture, polymerase chain reaction, microscopy, cell-flow cytometry, and a BSL-3 suite.

NCV first partnered with us to prepare a successful National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant proposal, which included building "siting," concept, project performance definition, and cost estimates in just four weeks.

The NCV design concept creates laboratory "wings" originating from a central "hub" that contains building circulation, interaction/break rooms, and shared support spaces. The building design anticipates a future third wing spiraling off the hub. We placed a single central corridor at the center of each wing, which divides laboratory and support space from offices. To enhance the scientist interaction that inevitably occurs in corridors, we grouped the entrances to the office spaces at cul-de-sacs providing impromptu breakout space for chance meetings.

Careful "siting" of the NCV building created a new opportunity for a shared quadrangle, a welcome amenity largely absent on this part of the UNL campus. Instead of using fencing, bollards, and limited window openings to achieve NIH-required security, the team created a protective barrier in the form of a landscape seating wall—another opportunity for informal meeting and collaboration.