PHOTO TOUR: SUNY Upstate Cord Blood Bank
Kevin Chu + Jessica Paul
The facility was designed to fit economic efficiency standards. Working closely with a team of consultants, Francis Cauffman created a building that is a benchmark for future structures of its type.
Kevin Chu + Jessica Paul
This modest building embodies the aspirational goals of Upstate Medical Center: The Cord Blood Bank is a place where a simple investment in basic research yields enormously beneficial results in disease treatment.
Kevin Chu + Jessica Paul
The solid concrete core is intended as a metaphor for the on-going nature of scientific progress. The glass box, cantilevered from the core, exposes the stem cells and those working with them to the public. It makes the complex work transparent and evident to the casual observer.
Kevin Chu + Jessica Paul
SUNY has a system-wide mandate that all new buildings be built at minimum to LEED Silver standards, but laboratory buildings of this type must be operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Therefore, the potential of a power outage represents a potentially massive loss of medically priceless cord blood. This facility combines a cost-effective approach with creative responses to the energy demands of the program.
Kevin Chu + Jessica Paul
The in and out movement of the panels along the perimeter of the building suggests the specific modification of stem cells and their ultimate use to treat the diseases of those who contributed those cells.
Kevin Chu + Jessica Paul
The SUNY Cord Blood Bank was designed specifically so that the entire cord blood lab was placed within a perimeter corridor, forming a temperate barrier that controls temperature and humidity. Also installed were airlocks at lab entry points and variable air volume boxes within the lab to control the necessary temperature and humidity levels. The stem cell rich umbilical cords are stored in stainless steel tanks, super cooled with liquid nitrogen, until the stem cells are needed by the donors to treat their diseases.
Kevin Chu + Jessica Paul
The Cord Blood Bank at Upstate Medical University is the central repository for cord blood cryostorage and distribution in New York. The CBB collects umbilical cords voluntarily donated by mothers from across the state. The facility also contains a green roof that retains 100 percent of the storm water associated with the building’s footprint.
Upstate Cord Blood Bank, a 20,000-square-foot facility located at the SUNY Upstate Medical University campus in Syracuse, N.Y., is one of only two cord banks in New York. Funded by a $15 million grant, the facility needed to fit the needs of the university’s program, economic efficiency standards and budget.
The goal: Design and create a facility that could carry out the essential services and research of umbilical cord blood. The blood, donated by families after childbirth, is stored at Upstate Cord Blood Bank until it is needed by a patient or for research purposes. The building contains a complete glass wall exterior, affording transparency of laboratory functions, and features a centralized liquid nitrogen system to successfully store the blood.
The facility is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, resulting in high energy costs. Therefore, the building was placed within a perimeter corridor on the SUNY campus for better temperature and humidity control. The interior utilizes airlocks at lab entry points and variable air volume boxes to assist with temperature control and energy efficiency. In addition, the building contains a green roof, which retains 100 percent of storm water.
Initially, the grant given to SUNY for the facility assumed the structure would need to be 30,000 to 35,000 square feet. However, the Francis Cauffman design team was able to reorganize the facility’s necessities, resulting in a 20,000-square-foot design, meeting the challenge of a tight budget. As a result, the economic efficiency of the building allowed for the implementation of a simple HVAC system that meets FDA and state requirements.
Today the Cord Blood Bank is a central repository for cord blood cryostorage and distribution in the state of New York. Although modest in design, SUNY and the design teams strived to create a facility that embodies the goals of SUNY Upstate in stem cell research and the development of life-saving treatments.
In addition to Francis Cauffman, SUNY enlisted the services of BuroHappold Engineering, Leslie E. Robertson Associates, The Pike Company, Environmental Design & Research, and Murnane Building Contractors Inc.
