Some Trends in Planning Chemical Laboratories, Pati IV Composite Arrangement of Laboratories Arrangement of Equlpment Many different ways of arranging equipment are being used in laboratories designed for research. There is, of course, no one way for all kinds of work, but some seem defmitely better than others. Several examples of recently adopted schemes are illustrated in Fieures 1.2. and 3. These are all fo&-man laboratories and include a study desk for each student. Firmre 4 shows arrangements for 2-, 4-, and R-man laboratories at the University of Cincinnati. In the Illinois plan the 3 X 6-ft chaseson the corridor contain theductsfor conditioned air, exhaust, and utilities. One exhaust fan serves a 4-man laharatow. Each student has a 6-ft hood. The hoods are equipped witha snorkel drop to which a flexihle tubing can he attached for spot exhausting. There are racks between each two hoods for assembling special equipment. From the center hoods the horizontal exhaust d u d is a t least 15 ft long. Special instruments, if any, may be placed in the entrance to the director's office. Portable desks (PD) are 3-ft units. Study desks (SD) form an attractive arrangement. Superficially the Duke plan resembles the Illinois plan. Each is a 20 X 30-ft modular unit and each has four 6-ft hoods in the center, one for each student. The Duke laboratories abut the service core, into which the hoods are exhausted. The study desks are close to the corridor, an advantage in case of fire or an explosion. The working desk is shown as 9-ft long. An adioinine room could be used for special instruments. ~h;cornlll plan is quite different. 'fhe pipe risers are close to one wall. Horizontal runs are carried around the wall, below the window ledges. At each of the three Unistrut verticals, used for assembling equipment, and a t the two double laho~
~
edlted by
W. ROBERT BARNARD Evergreen State College Olympia. Washington 98501
ratory desks there are valves for connections. As shown, each student space is next to a window (with afineview down Cayuga Lake). There is room in several paitions for study desks. There are only two E f t hoods and no special provision for instruments. utilnles The nature of much modern research varies widely from institution to institution. and even within a eiven institution. A few administrators may look with disfav& upon some divisions of chemistrv and emphasize their own area. The research program then resemhfes that in an avowed specialized research institute. In any case the program(s) is likely to change with new developments in science and technology. Service Shaft
d
Corridor Figure 2. Four-man research laboratory. Duke University.
-
t El.".
L
Conidol
Cwridor Figure 1. Four-man research labwamry and office. University of Illinois.
Figure 3. Fourman research labaatay. Cornell university.
volume 54, Number 3, March 1977 1 195
Figure 4. Floor plan of the research tower. University of Cincinnati W h a t a difference activation ectuipment a n d mass spectrometers have made! Physical chemists and even physi&ts have taken UD pollution studies on air, water, and soil, things they would n i i have deigned to analyze a decade ago. I n planning one can provide for t h e present. For a n unpredictable future maximum flexibility seems t h e only reasonable objective, unless one simply abandons t h e old place (as suggested by Frank Lloyd Wright t o t h e city fathers of Pittsburgh). T h i s means portable desks, tables, a n d research assemblies t h a t can b e transported into place or assembled on supports provided. Utilities would ooerate onlv a s needed. All available should b e brought a t least t o t h e &om a n d valved for connection when needed. With unions in t h e lines, connections can easily be made or hroken. T h e joints i n glass drain lines may h e connected or disconnected readily. Even electrical lines, such as those t o hoods, may be designed to b e disconnected easily. With all lines euuiuped with shut-off valves a n d unions, a room may b e cieaikd o r changed for different kinds of work.
Figwe 5. Several sciences, general and advanced programs are served on one floorat Rle Evergreen State College. The offset corridor has glass on both sides making a gwd visual connection to the outside or laboratory interiors.
Combhalion Laboratorles Most of the new, large buildings have space far teaching and research laboratories; many serve several sciences. Some have a central traffic corridor and some a central utility core with a perimeter corridor surroundina the laboratories, which back up to the utility core. The traditional plan incorporating a central (occasionally offcenter) corridor is found in many institutions, recent examples being the University of South Carolina, Michigan State University (both chemistry and biochemistrybuildings), Illinois, and Purdue. This plan is thought to minimize corridor space in a long rectangular building, where it generally occurs. With the corridor in the center, the depth of the rooms (from the corridor to exterior wall) cannot he the best for large teaching laboratories, for research laboratories, and for offices. The University of South Carolina has a compromise arrangement. By using an off-center corridor, roomsof two different depths are formed. An example is the physical science huilding at McMaster University. The deeper ones may serve for teaching laboratories and the shallower ones for research laboratories, classrooms, special instruments, offices, and other purposes requiring relatively small areas. At The Evergreen State College (Fig. 5 ) laboratories of two sizes develop from the corridor design. Corner space has been given to paper work, reference reading. Although laboratories having central utility cores have already been mentioned, the trend toward this design merits further attention. With this plan one may expect to find the laboratories with an end
(side) along the core, with the hoods generally backed up against the core. In the simplest plan a corridor next to the windows surrounds the laboratories. If the rooms so formed are large enough for teaching laboratories, they do not subdivide well to make small areas. The more likely plan is to have the smaller rooms a e r m the corridor from the laboratories, with windows in the smaller rooms. This arrangement eives. " " . in a number of instances, a building nearly square. Examples of such buildings are a t the University of Missouri, the University of Utah, Wayne State University, and the University of Wyoming. The new laboratory a t Duke University has an uncommon, straightforward plan incorporating large and small laboratories all with the same depth. Part of the long rectangular arrangement on the third floor is illustrated in Figure 6. To be noted are the corridors, one surroundine the laboratorv area and three crosswise for traffic to the loboror~riei.Pavallel to these cross corridors are fuur long utlllt? s h a h , one betwrrl>each double n w of labornt~,rier.Outside oitha pertmeter orridor arr the small officrj (10 X I5 f t ~several , stairs, and the chemical storeroom ton the second floor). Thesenmd floor contains the larger laboratorres r:iO X 30ft. 30 X 40 ft: 30 x X I f t ) for course work. and the third flwr the smaller rooms (20 X 30 ft). The partitions between a row of the small research rooms may be removed. if desired. to make a laboratorv. UD. to 120 feet lona. - Anv . small room may he used to isolate special work, to protect delicate instruments, or to provide for non-laboratory uses.
I 9 6 I Journal of Chemical Education
Figure 6. Partial view of floorplan of research laboratories,Duke University.
~
~
In this design, the administrative offices, the lecture and class rooms. and the lihrarv on the first floor mav be subject to leaks from the laboratohes ahove. Superficially the over-all plan of the new b u i l d i i at Purdue University resembles the rectangular plan a t Duke University in having four crosswise utility shafts. The area between two of these shafts constitutes a duplex. Figure 1,in Part 111of this series, shows the plan for two lahoratories for general chemistry, with an instrument room separating the two laboratories. Figure 7, herein, shows the plan for one of the duplexes for research, in this case subdivided for two suites, each one being for a professor, a post-doctoral student, and eight grad"ate students, with an adjoining instrument room. Separate Undergraduate and Graduate Laboratories To provide separate space for many graduate students, planning has been taking two general directions. The great maioritv of cases represent an extension of an older, combined underg;aduate and graduate laboratory. The new area generally is a wine connected to an older building. planning c~mpletelynew space for all kinds of work provides the best opportunity to separate the teaching and research lahoratories. The University of Cincinnati is an unusually interesting example. The four-story rectangular part contains the teaching laboratories. The hoods, with their vertical exhaust flues, are all on exterior walls. Of special interest is the 360-car. three-level ~ a r k i n eearaee " underneath the structure, with the supporting columns 60-ft on center. The 16-story research tower has the form of a Greek cross. As in the lower part, the hoods and exhaust flues are on outside walls. The tower consists of a core, containing elevators, stairs, main supply shafts, and service rooms, surrounded by the four arms of the cross. Each arm can he partitioned into various kinds of rooms, including lahoratories and offices. Plans for the different floors show the wide ~ossibilitiesof arrangement. One of these is shown in ~ i g u r e4, which is a composite from Floors 8 and 9.
--
Electric Service A few decades ago modern lahoratories were thought to need sources of bothalternating a d direct current. he-latter miaht include a series of storage batteries and dc generators, serving one or more outlets a t the working stations of each graduate student, through appropriately placed plug jackhoards. With the development of small rectifiers, permanent installations to generate direct current are now uncommon. The present trend is to have a distribution system arranged to deliver adequate ac current as needed. This generally means high voltage and heavy current distribution systems from the transformer vaults into the service shafts and distrihution nanels adiacent to the lahoratorv. Conduit runs and racewavs should he planned so that exteksions of appropriate wiring may be made where and when needed. Instead of installing many outlets in a room at locations thought to he appropriate, some lahoratories have a small bus-bar susoended around the room from the ceiling. Current may be obtained by making a connection into the place needed. Plug strips, such as Wiremold", with convenient disconnects may be installed ahove lahoratorv counter heights. With the generous installations of plugsfor 120 or 208 V, it is essen
