2025 West Best Projects
Award of Merit, Excellence in Sustainability: Biological and Environmental Program Integration Center (BioEPIC)
Biological and Environmental Program Integration Center (BioEPIC)
Calif.
Award of Merit
Submitted by Clark Construction
Owner Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Lead Design Firm SmithGroup
General Contractor Clark Construction
Approximately 200 researchers now have dedicated research space to uncover how microbial communities interact with plants and soil to influence the environment. The four-story, 71,000-sq-ft BioEPIC facility brings together scientists from the biosciences and earth and environmental sciences areas with a suite of next-generation research tools. In addition to unique climate research environments, the center has three additional levels of labs and collaborative spaces, all housed in an all-electric facility designed to maximize energy efficiency and resiliency.
The facility is designed to achieve LEED Gold certification and satisfies International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories innovative lab standards, with sustainable features that minimize the structure’s energy, climate, waste and water footprint.
The all-electric MEP system taps into a modular utility plant built for the adjacent Integrative Genomics Building. It uses chilled beams, an advanced cooling technology that circulates chilled water through ceiling-mounted units to cool rooms quietly and efficiently. Heat pumps provide space and water heating, making use of the waste heat generated in the building.
A high-performance building envelope with horizontal fins and overhanging soffits further reduces the building’s operational carbon footprint. The building is designed to use 52% less energy than similar benchmark buildings at the lab and outperform energy code by 48%.
