CHoP’s latest state-of-the-art laboratory space hosts the Children’s Hospital’s Center for Childhood Cancer Research and Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics, departments that turn pediatric science into medical innovation. The Colket Translational Research Building (CTRB) is the first of CHoP’s south campus expansion. This $496 million research tower is comprised of four laboratory floors, a two-story ground floor lobby, cafeteria, conference space, and four administrative office floors. The building has been designed to anticipate future growth and expand an additional 27-stories.
Enclos provided a comprehensive design/build program for the building facade, which is comprised primarily of a custom unitized curtainwall system, including wall types with integrated terracotta. The CTRB design program maximizes transparency, allowing seventy-five percent of the building’s floor space to include natural daylighting and views to the exterior. The tower balances this transparency with energy savings by means of windows and roofing that retain heat in the winter and reflect it throughout the summer. This crucial facade design was a primary contributor to the project’s LEED silver certification award from the USGBC.
Abundance of Daylight
The prefabricated custom glass curtainwall covering the CTRB’s 12-story facades allows seventy-five percent of the building’s floor space to include natural daylighting and views to the exterior. The aluminum frames host typically host an infill that is a 1˝ insulated glass unit. Other locations of the facade integrate terracotta panels in a rain-screen configuration. The interchange of infill materials is designed in a way that allows the same unitized aluminum frame system that installs efficiently to be used throughout the project.
Impressionable Entrances
The use of structural glass facades at the entryways is another expression of transparency and connection between interior and exterior. A 20´ tension cable acts as a vertical mullion behind each glass joint. The cable has a custom designed cast stainless steel fitting that reaches to and retains the glass lites utilizing a point-fixed drilled connection – glass bolts. The ability to provide structural glass facade solutions with in-house design and structural expertise is one Enclos is proud to offer.
CTRB’s entrance-way incorporates a single-story structural glass facade that again maximizes transparency and natural daylighting. The system includes a point-fixed vertical cable mullion wall that creates an openness to the corridor by tying into the building’s door frames.