B.Labs at Cira Centre

The immediate need for laboratory space to support Philadelphia’s rapidly growing lifescience ecosystem coupled with a post-pandemic decline in office tenancies created an opportunity for adaptive reuse of traditional office space. To create laboratory space on the lower floors of Cira Centre, the design team met architectural and engineering constraints with innovation. Lab exhaust was routed down instead of up; a DOAS/VRF system was employed to reduce duct sizes and reliance on existing mechanical infrastructure; a communicating stair was introduced as a circulation spine to create a knowledge community. The completed “repurposed” spec. office space is a healthy interior work environment located near mass transit access points, and is designed so that all circulation does not require an elevator.

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Details

Architecture Firm: Strada

Project Team: Chris Kenney, AIA, CSI, LEED AP, RA; George Poulin, AIA, LEED AP, RA; Jayson Livingston, ASLA, SITES AP, RLA; Megan McGee, AIA; Murray Kamara; Gargi Lagvankar, RA; Aaron Bell, RA

Client: Brandywine Realty Trust

Contractor: INTECH Construction - General Contractor

Engineers: O'Donnell & Nacarato - Structural Engineer; Bala Consulting Engineers - MEP Engineer

Photographer: Jeffrey Totaro

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