Rice University Collaborative Research Center
Project Description:
Paradigm Consultants provided construction materials testing services for this $200 million to $300 million, 477,000 gross square foot, 10-story Collaborative Research Center (CRC) at the corner of Main and University in Houston, Texas. This facility enables researchers and physicians from the world’s largest medical center to team up with Rice University scientists and engineers on bioscience and biotechnology research and complement one another’s capabilities.
The project consists of three levels of underground parking to accommodate up to 770 vehicles. A 10-story lab tower with mechanical penthouse rises on the south side of the project site. There are eight floors of efficient research laboratories that sit above a base platform that includes a vivarium, a 280-seat auditorium, a 100-seat seminar room, classrooms, 10,000-ft2 of retail space for restaurants and shops, and other common space.
The north side portion is three stories high and is built structurally stronger with larger grade rebar in the columns to accommodate a future second research tower addition up to 150,000-ft2. Project construction was on a “hyper-track” schedule in order to bring the building into operation more quickly, thus saving on construction costs by shortening the overall duration of the project.
This LEED-certified building is the largest academic building to have ever been built on the Rice campus.
Client:
Rice University
Kathy Jones