The building consists of approximately 1/2 classrooms and 1/2 faculty and staff office space. The classrooms are being built with state of the art audio visual technology for distance learning classes. The building’s skin is comprised of two tone brick work, glass curtainwall and sunshades.  The building is designed to reflect the surrounding campus facilities as well as the landscape surrounding campus.  The final GMP, post-bid, came in under the original budgeted amount.  The Owner elected to add additional Audio-Visual scope into the project using the savings and supplemented the additional scope with additional Owner Contingency funds.

The hardscape ties in with the downtown scheme, and the sky-line is improved by incorporating existing textures and materials with a more modern look, transitioning in the old with the new.

In addition to the cGMP solid dose production areas, this unique facility includes research and development labs, a 360 degree auditorium, a football shaped, glass curtainwall lobby, with an 8-foot diameter, 26-foot high aquarium and coral reef, a cafeteria, administrative offices, three mechanical penthouses, two of them with solar power panels, packaging areas and a warehouse.

The project began in April 2007 with the clearing of 35-acres of wooded area. Now completed, the project was completed on time, under budget and most importantly logged more than 650,000 safe work hours with no lost time incident. The facility is used to produce a solid dose version of Remodulin which is a drug used to treat cardio pulmonary hypertension.

This project involved the demolition and renovation of an existing cellular phone chip testing facility into a pain medication monitoring laboratory.  The transformation involved the retrofitting of the existing air handling and electrical systems to meet the new requirements of the project. The laboratory area consists of a GC/LC laboratory, GC/LC prep, data entry, aliquoting, cold room, accessioning and screening.  Support areas include office, chemical storage, gas storage, data center, maintenance, bio-hazard, shipping and receiving, training, break and file/material storage areas.

In the first phase of the project, DPR completely demolished the existing kitting space and part of the manufacturing space and reconstructed it as a manufacturing space to bring the operation up to 21st century standards. Part of this renovation involved a replacement of an existing rooftop air handling unit which served several areas and could only be out of service for a 24 hour period. In addition, the first phase included a new employee breakroom on the first floor in the former visitor seating area and a testing laboratory in the former location of the caged supply area.

The second phase commenced in mid-February 2009 and was completed in June 2009. This involved the complete demolition of the remaining manufacturing space and some of the existing distribution areas to make way for new cold rooms and a labeling room. Also, in this phase, a rooftop air handling unit was replaced similarly to the one replaced in the first phase.

The third and final phase commenced in June 2009 and was completed in late July 2009. This phase involved the renovation of existing office areas and the construction of new employee locker rooms in a space that was used as office space.

Pre-set goals for the project included: 

• Completion of each phase ahead of schedule
• Zero defects at substantial completion of each phase
• Exceeding 75% local workforce participation

In order to beat the schedule, DPR incorporated Lean construction practices for an open and consistent dialog between trades resulting in higher predictability and smoother workflow. By using this collaborative approach, each phase of the project was not only delivered ahead of the contracted schedule but also with zero defects at substantial completion. This allowed Facebook to begin populating their data suites and trafficking live data sooner. To exceed the hiring goal, DPR collaborated with subcontractors, held career fairs, and posted hiring information to Facebook and other websites. This dedicated team effort allowed the project to attain 90% its manpower from the local workforce for both buildings.