During design, Stantec's vision was to route services up through the turntable's central pivot foundation, where rotation could be handled easily. During construction, the approach became problematic due to the foundation's complexity and the quantity of utilities.

In the end, only the 4-in.-dia fire-sprinkler main is located in the center. All cabling conduit for various systems was stubbed up into the crawl space, 8 ft from the center. The location is one of two fixed cable ends. The other, on the turntable's underside, moves with the rotation. That lengthens the distance between the two cable end positions, which creates a need for slack.

The carousel's reset speed is 180˚ in 10 minutes; its test speed is 10% slower. Despite that, the team decided it would be unacceptable to allow the slack conduit to slide like a loose hose on the crawl-space slab.

Tensioning devices and pulleys would apply too much load on the cable ends. The solution, designed by Stantec with a design-assist from fabricator-installer ">Metalset Inc., is a system that relies on a trolley-in-a-tray assembly that spools the slack to a guide ring. ">Macton Corp. supplied the turntable itself under a design-build contract.

The static sheds, which are 80% complete, are slightly ahead of schedule for year-end completion, but the rotating shed is one month behind schedule.

The lag isn't dampening anyone's enthusiasm. "We are convinced FLEXLAB's impact on energy conservation will be significant," says Chun-cheng Piao, a senior manager of HVAC maker ">Daikin Industries Ltd. and a member of FLEXLAB's advisory committee.

FLEXLAB is "a sandbox for ideas," adds Integral's Disney. "We brag about projects, but this one is really gratifying because it will support energy-efficiency work throughout the industry."