News
New Biotech Facility Wins Award for "2007 Best Overall Concrete Project"
By: Ted Johnson
Source: IDC Architects
PORTLAND, 25 June 2007 — IDC Architects' biotech facility for Berlex in Lynnwood, Washington, won two awards for excellence in concrete construction earlier this year from the Washington Aggregates and Concrete Association.
The association presented the project with its "2007 Best Tilt-up Concrete Construction" award and "2007 Best Overall Concrete Project" award. The latter honor signifies this as the best concrete project in the State of Washington overall for 2007.
The $85 million project includes office, laboratory, utilities, and warehouse space, and a clean manufacturing suite. The competition for these awards was stiff. This award recognizes not just the building’s architectural and structural design, but also the execution of concrete installation.
At a May 3 award dinner, IDC Architects staff were accompanied by contractors, the concrete supplier, and client representatives who were honored to take the stage and receive their awards in front of the large crowd in attendance for this annual presentation.
The 98,000-square-foot Berlex project has attracted attention before. Its uniqueness includes its status as the State of Washington’s first major factory to make biotech drugs. The facility is further distinguished by the specific drug it produces- the breakthrough cancer therapy Leukine, which boosts white blood cells for Leukemia patients undergoing chemotherapy.
IDC Architects Senior Designer Scott Barton-Smith explains that tilt-up buildings are not often associated with aesthetically pleasing buildings, let alone award-winning design. Scott was instrumental in maintaining the integrity of the design throughout the project. When the client requested a design that would evoke a sense of cleanliness that was also distinctly Northwestern, some were skeptical about tilt-up concrete’s ability to deliver the right result.
After careful analysis, ready-mix cast in place and tilt-up concrete was chosen for its construction economy, flexibility, strength, and durability. The building’s utility functions are nestled into a hillside, minimizing visual impact on an adjacent residential neighborhood. The aluminum and glass surfaces reflect views of the nearby forest and creek. Grooved concrete walls help to blur the line between indoors and out, beckoning visitors and employees to take a closer look. At night, lights set into the floor below illuminate the grooves, accentuating the exterior's special character.
Alignment of the horizontal lines between panel edges and corners was critical to the success of the design. Even slight misalignment between panels would be visually disruptive. This presented a challenging detail that would test the contractor’s craftsmanship.
Using only measuring tape and chalk lines, the contractors aligned the beveled reveals perfectly around corners and down the site’s slope. Another contractor poured cast in place concrete walls adjacent to the tilt-up walls with equal accuracy, making the seam between construction types invisible.
The quality of the concrete work was so high that a thick-textured paint, intended to mask mistakes in the concrete, was abandoned for a semi-transparent stain that highlighted the concrete and celebrated the technical skill of the contractors. The consistent form lines and natural texture variation of the concrete give the concrete a handcrafted character.
This project illustrates how award-winning work often results from a willingness to push the envelope of conventional approaches. While tilt-up concrete didn't seem like an obvious solution early on, the project team was willing to analyze many options to bring the best creative ideas forward. In the end the team was persuaded that the advantages of combining ready-mix concrete with cast-in-place tilt-up construction would deliver an ideal exterior and interior finish material, while projecting the owner's desired image.
The owner, neighbors, design team, and contractors left their handprints in special concrete panels embedded into the walls as a final tribute to the success that true teamwork brought to this award-winning project.
More than 60 of our staff contributed to this project's success over its more than 2-year duration. All of them share the credit for this accomplishment.