At the Genentech Founders' Research Center (FRC) II, in South San Francisco, design program constraints forced a different set of project trade-offs. With flexible lab space confined to the ground floor (due to service and structural requirements) and "H-Classification" organic chemistry labs limited to the top floor (due to air-handling requirements), moving data around the building became a critical project requirement. To minimize even the remotest possibility of data corruption, Genentech's teledata group demanded that all cable tray routing meet very strict criteria for avoiding clashes with or too close proximity to other building services. The FRC involved nearly $150,000 in modeling costs just to insure the ideal teledata routing. This team employed an innovative "bridging" approach to modeling, in which the same 3-D/4-D modelers worked first for the designers—SRG Architects and Affiliated Engineers—and then for the contractors. Eventually, the model data will be used by Genentech in the operation of the building (in effect, arranging and rearranging spaces as a series of laboratory "kitchens" for "cooking" new molecules).
JL



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