As Design Architect, RBB provided planning and design for the 148,000 SF Innovative Energy Laboratory (EIL), a research and education building for the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratories in Idaho Falls.
The EIL project was commissioned to achieve LEED Gold certification, and exceeded expectations by meeting LEED Platinum criteria. The EIL is one of only 22 labs certified as Platinum, out of the 471 laboratories registered with the USGBC’s LEED pipeline. From conceptual design, through the Design-Build delivery, all phases of the project focused on earning LEED credits. The open-floor design provides three stories of 127 flexible, reconfigurable labs as well as office, conference and meeting space. An efficient U-shaped plan maximizes the contiguous lab modules that have day lighting. The design-build team also incorporated research data on daylight models from the Montana State University’s Integrated Design Lab. The labs’ overall energy-efficient design, featuring high-performance lighting systems and controls, high-efficiency fume hoods, and significant heat recovery, led to a 49% reduction in energy use compared to conventional laboratory standards. In construction, the contractor, Ormond Builders, re-used or recycled 97% of construction waste EIL was constructed using at least 34 percent recycled materials, and 97 percent of the construction waste was reused, recycled or repurposed.
The new lab building is leased by the Batelle Energy Alliance for the research and development of sustainable, clean energy solutions, nuclear energy, and environmental sciences. The EIL is a collaborative, state of the future facility for INL researchers, visiting scientists, partners, students and conference participants.
INL Project Fact Sheet:
http://www4vip.inl.gov/research/energy-innovation-laboratory/d/energy-innovation-laboratory.pdf
