J. Craig Venter Institute
La Jolla. CA
FIRST NET-ZERO ENERGY LAB IN US
BINWEN YAN
Lighting / Electrical
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BUILDING STATISTICS
LOCATION
LA Jolla, CA
OVERALL BUILDING SIZE
92,490 SF
COST INFORMATION
$39, 289, 040
PROJECT DELIVERY METHOD
Design –Bid – Build
NUMBER OF STORIES
4 Stories
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION
Nov. 2010 – Nov. 2013
GENERAL DATA
PROJECT TEAM
BUILDING CODE
OWNER
ARCHIRECT / INTERIOR DESIGNER
MEP ENGINEER
LIGHTING DESIGNER
LABORATORY PLANNER
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS
CBC 2011
2001 California Building Code
T24
Title 24 California Code of Regulation
NEC 2011
The National Electric Code
ARCHITECTURAL
J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) is a not-for-profit genomic-focused research institute with more than 250 scientists and staff. Without constrains and limits, the organization engaged in a lot of exciting and fruitful research in biological area. As one of the greenest buildings in the country, JCVI initiated a new challenge, design and construct the first net-zero energy, carbon neutral biological laboratory building in United States. Designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects (ZGF), the new facility is a three-story, 45,000-square-foot building located in La Jolla, CA. Situated next to Scripps Coastal Reserve, the building enjoyed a favorable geographic position. In order to maximize ocean view, the building has an exterior shape of slender.
SITE STUDY
SCRIPPS UPPER MERISA
NEIGHBOUHOOD PLANNING STUDY
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View corridors from theater district to ocean
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Street and Ecological Reserve edges
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Vehicular circulation as a buffer from street with low visibility
Scripps
Street
ocean
Theater
Residence
Ecological
A site study is performed by landscape architects Andropogon Associate about the immediate environment condition. In order to protect the ecological system, architects decided to grow native plants on building green roof and courtyard, Iris hybridus, juncus patens, pluchea sericea, narcissus “paper white” and juncus Mexicans. The picture below shows the site plan of J. Craig Venter building and the photos of plants that will grow for this region.
BUILDING ENCLOSURE
BUILDING FACADE
The project uses a modest palette of high performing materials, all chosen for sustainability purpose. The building façade has high-performance glazing, Spanish cedar cladding, high-strength concrete. The high-strength concrete mix design included 30% fly ash to maximize the amount of recycled content, while still providing the strength required. Wood mullion storefront system is also designed for this building exterior finish.
GLASS
The building façade has glass curtain wall system with spider clip attachment to wood lamella truss. Lab space ahs wood framed type windows with low E and Low iron clear insulated glazing.
ROOFING
The roof of lab wings is covered by solar panel. Two arrays, comprising 26,124 SF of photovoltaic surface across 1,488 Sunpower E20 / 327 panels, were designed to meet building demand over the timeframe of a year. Building occupants are responsible for reducing plug loads by 31% to achieve
PRIMARY ENGINEERING SYSTEM
CONSTRUCTION
J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) is a not-for-profit genomic-focused research institute with more than 250 scientists and staff. Without constrains and limits, the organization engaged in a lot of exciting and fruitful research in biological area. As one of the greenest buildings in the country, JCVI initiated a new challenge, design and construct the first net-zero energy, carbon neutral biological laboratory building in United States. Designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects (ZGF), the new facility is a three-story, 45,000-square-foot building located in La Jolla, CA. Situated next to Scripps Coastal Reserve, the building enjoyed a favorable geographic position. In order to maximize ocean view, the building has an exterior shape of slender.
STRUCTURAL
The project uses a modest palette of high performing materials, all chosen for sustainability purpose. The building façade has high-performance glazing, Spanish cedar cladding, high-strength concrete. The high-strength concrete mix design included 30% fly ash to maximize the amount of recycled content, while still providing the strength required. Wood mullion storefront system is also designed for this building exterior finish.
ELECTRICAL
To meet the client’s goal of creating the most sustainable laboratory in the world, engineers incorporate high efficiency electrical system into the building. The building will generate 50% of the energy consumption using onsite generator. 23,0000 SF roof mounted photovoltaic array is designed to power the generator. The primary system voltage of JCVI building is 3 phase, 480Y/277 serving main switchboard. The voltage then breaks down into 208Y/120 volts for distribution panels. The service enters the building through the transformer located in electrical room on the first floor.
The emergency/ standby power source is connected in parallel with normal switch board under 3 phase, 480/277 volts. JCVI building used diesel generator set from Cummins Power Generation company. The generator provides optimum, reliable and versatility emergency/ standby power to the system. Equipped with heavy duty engine, the generator is able to deliver reliable power, low emissions and fast response to load changes. 350kw model is selected for JCVI building. Two automatic transfer switch is connected to the generator to separate emergency lighting, essential lab equipment, mandatory standby power and optional standby power. The table below summarizes loading of emergency power and standby power including equipment name, location and energy consumption.
LIGHTING + CONTROL
Lighting system for J. Craig building is designed by David Nelson & Associate company. In order to contribute to the goal of sustainability, the building and massing and envelope are designed to maximize the use of daylight while reduce overall building energy use. The figure below daylighting analysis for this building. The photovoltaic array partially shades the courtyard, allow some sunlight topenetrate the space and reflect back into the laboratory and office spaces.
For the artificial lights, most of the lights are LED with high efficient lighting control system. To meet the client’s requirements for lighting commissioning, the building use Lutron Eagle control system, which provide a wide range of lighting control include daylighting harvesting, motorized window shade, dimming, scheduling and etc. Check Tech Report I for detail Lighting design..
MECHANICAL
The key design strategy for MEP system is minimize external gains and burden on MEP systems. Engineers optimize MEP & energy using systems to decouple and minimize lab ventilation loads from cooling loads and eliminate peak inefficiencies.
A mechanical mezzanine is designed above the lab wings to allow for maintenance and modification with minimized disturbance within the lab itself. An Aircuity chemical sensing system within the laboratory enhances biosafety in the event of a chemical spill, yet enables lowered heating and cooling energy consumption. The pie chart shows a comparison of energy consumption between normal lab and JCVI sustainable lab.
The mechanical system also considers building seasonal energy flows. In summer time the building will gain heat from solar and building envelop. The MEP system will store the heat gain to support the building internal loads including lighting, people and equipment. Whereas during winter time envelop will loss heat. In order to accommodate heat gain and loss in different seasons, engineers come up with an optimize thermal energy storage, cooling tower, chiller, water source heat pump and air source heat pump.
To optimize the HVAC system, the building has two wings office and wet lab, which is better to have different system. Single-pass air with heat recovery in the wet labs and more passive heating and cooling in the dry space, taking advantage of the benign climate.
BUILDING INTELLIGENCE SYSTEM
JCVI building also a building intelligence system, which tie all systems through a unique intelligent building interface. The system includes fire alarm and safety, mechanical controls, energy management, lighting controls, building dashboard, security system, building monitoring and irrigation control.
