UW-Madison Chemical, Biological & Engineering Lab

The newly renovated Chemical, Biological, and Engineering Lab is a BSL-2 rated space, that brings new studies to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Over 30,000 sqft of lab space was renovated into a 3rd-floor graduate program lab, and two floors of fermentation and biological labs house the basement of the Engineering Hall. This project involved the demolition of the existing hydrochemistry lab space on the lower level of the building. The former lab had underground water tanks that will now empty pits. To account for the weight of our equipment and the new lab, these pits needed to be backfilled and the floor reinforced before construction even started.

To complete this, our team had to build a soil retention wall to get equipment into the building, and demotion out of the building. The expansion of the basement-level fermentation laboratory also required the JP Cullen team to underpin the existing forms to accommodate the newly expanded basement. Underpinning the existing walls requires extreme precision and is of the utmost importance to ensure the building is stable and can support the newest lab additions. The barrel-vaulted ceiling features a dramatic design with a DNA pattern that echoes the lab’s purpose.

A new environment room with state-of-the-art refrigeration and temperature control was also a part of the graduate program’s lab, along with temperature-controlled storage.