Renovations to Four Medicinal Chemistry Research Laboratories

Malott Hall is a 1950s vintage facility built for the teaching of the sciences. Over the decades, its use for research laboratories by the chemistry department has intensified. The project consists of renovations to four medicinal chemistry research laboratories, and the faculty and graduate student work spaces that support them.

The project presented many significant design challenges. Physically, the building's limited floor-to-floor heights and mechanical spaces, combined with the researchers' need to maximize the number of fume hoods in their labs, required careful coordination of all systems. In terms of scheduling, the lab occupants had to be temporarily relocated during construction, and adjacent spaces included labs that operate around the clock and throughout the calendar. A two-phase construction process was required to keep disruption at a tolerable level.

Since completion of the first phase, feedback from the researchers has been overwhelmingly positive.