Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/175815
Pharmaceutical Sciences & Centre for Drug Research and Development – UBC by John T.D. Keyes ruly innovative buildings, ones that make an unforgettable statement to both their users and passersby alike, are often the result of a single vision, but that vision best reaches full expression through extraordinary teamwork. Thanks to the people involved and the cuttingedge technology they employed in design and construction, that is certainly the case with the new Pharmaceutical Sciences and Centre for Drug Research and Development at the corner of Wesbrook Mall and Agronomy Road on the eastern edge of the University of British Columbia campus. "The university always viewed this as a gateway building," says Nick Maile, development manager for UBC Properties Trust. "They wanted a design that was unique and interesting, which is why Saucier + Perrotte Architectes and Hughes Condon Marler Architects were selected after an RFP and interview process." Leading the architectural joint venture, Gilles Saucier envisioned a building that would accomplish two things: "I felt that the building had to remain in some way public in the way it touched the ground," he says. And because the users would be the Faculty of Pharmacy and other drug research entities, he chose to re lect that ield of endeavour: "I wanted the design to relate to the origin of pharmacy, to the use of plants and trees. The idea was to anchor it in the reality of the building, to literally make the building like two trees interlacing on the site: the trunk of the trees becomes the two atriums that you see expressed through the building while the canopy of the trees is the exterior glass and the superstructure. On the west facade, we wanted moving window boxes, some of them covered with re lective glass and some not." To that end, says Michael Patterson of Perry + Associates, whose landscape design was in relation to the overall effect, "we planted a forest grove to the west of the building, so that leaves are re lected in the windows." The concrete benches of the plaza also express that same idea of roots emerging from the ground. This vast new six-storey facility, measuring roughly 96 metres by 36 metres, will unite under one roof the Faculty PHOTOS COURTESY SAUCIER + PERROTTE ARCHITECTES / HUGHES CONDON MARLER ARCHITECTS T Pharmaceutical Sciences & Centre for Drug Research and Development – UBC p.46-51UBC Pharm Sciences.indd 47 of Pharmaceutical Science and the Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD). Undergraduate enrolment will expand by 72 places, while the professional pharmacy degree program enrolment will increase by 47 per cent. The two hectares of loor space, enhanced by two large north-south atriums and one long east-west slot atrium, contain research and teaching labs, of ice space, classrooms and lecture theatres, an interactive display recalling the "Story of Medicine," a working pharmacy, student and faculty lounges and a cafe. Beneath the plaza to the west of the building is a late addition to the design, a 5,000-square-foot data centre for the entire university. Slated for LEED Gold and with a commitment to incorporate extensive cedar panelling as a result of then-Premier Gordon Campbell's Wood First Initiative, the entire project was then fasttracked, which required an unprecedented degree of integrated design and construction management. "You don't get to build buildings like this every day, but it's always about the people you recruit to put it together," says Bruce Dale, construction manager for Ledcor Construction Limited. "We had a great team of designers, consultants and trades, and full cooperation from the owner. We had a good idea of how this had to go together, and everybody listened. I kept putting out in front of everybody the most important things to be done in a particular sequence." Those with expertise in similar projects were quickly brought on board. Art Cader Architect Inc. acted as a consultant on life safety and building code issues and was one of the critical overseers of the laboratory details. Cader had experience with other fast-tracked OCTOBER 2012 /47 9/11/12 11:49 AM