Brown Infrastructure Renewal

Project Overview

The GeoChem Brown Univerisity building is home to the Department of Earth, Environmental, Planetary Sciences (DEEPS) and the Department of Chemistry. DEEPS occupies the lower floors of the four and a half story building, and chemistry has the three remaining upper floors. During construction, this building was always occupied with students and ongoing lab experiments. Our challenge was getting the new equipment into the penthouse while maintaining HVAC needs. A temporary AHU needed to be installed and tested before existing any equipment could be removed. We used the outside AHU connection point to load the penthouse with the new equipment, eliminating the need to cut open the roof, saving time and money. 

The project’s mechanical focus was on upgrading the building’s mechanical infrastructure, the exterior envelope, and accessibility. This included replacing (2) AHU’s, a chiller, and pumps to upgrade all equipment to direct digital controls. Also, the existing laboratories were modernized ― replacing laboratory fume hoods and fan coil units. Our BIM capabilities enabled us to scan the existing space, insert proposed equipment to ensure spacing needed.

The project’s fire protection scope was a retrofit for the existing building with a completely new wet sprinkler system. The piping installation that ran throughout each lab space required special materials to minimize dust build-up for clean lab areas.

Unique Metal Works, Imperatore Crane, and Axion Specialty Contracting (insulation)