The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is constructing a new facility to replace the existing NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) located in La Jolla, California, which is threatened by continuing bluff erosion. Designed by Gould Evans, the new facility will include approximately 124,000 sqf with an additional 90,000 sqf of under building parking, and is located on a site east of the existing SWFSC property. The proposed 3.305 acre site enables NOAA to continue its long-term partnership with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) of UC San Diego, but constrains the design, construction and available development due to its steep grade.
Project description, video, and images following the break.
Architect: Gould Evans Location: La Jolla, California, USA Associate Architect: Architects | Delawie Wilkes Rodrigues Barker Mechanical/Electrical Engineer and Prime Consultant: Gibbens Drake Scott Structural Engineer: TranSystems Corporation Specifications, Laboratory Consultant, Security Consultant, and Sustainability Consultant: HDR Architecture Life Support Systems Consultant: MWH Americas Civil Engineer: RBF Consulting Landscape Architect: Wimmer Yamada & Caughey Vegetated Roofs Consultant: Jeffrey L. Bruce & Company Project Area: 214,000 sqf Project Year: estimated 2011 Renderings: Gould Evans
The new facility will accommodate between 280 and 300 personnel, with under building parking for over 200 vehicles. The project satisfies individual department needs with lab spaces, office spaces, storage spaces, group gathering areas, and delivery/staging areas and allows NOAA to bring associated science and research activities together, promote proper flow of work from one activity to another, and modernize the laboratory and office spaces to comply with today’s regulatory requirements and standards while supporting the state-of-the-art and next generation science that is crucial to NOAA’s programmatic mission.
New laboratory spaces include a large 2-million-liter (500,000-gallon) Ocean Technology Development Tank that will enable SWFSC to continue its pioneering work in ecosystem-based fisheries management through new or innovative uses of technologies. The design of the new building incorporates sustainable strategies such as photovoltaic cells, elaborate water retention systems, recycled materials and vegetated roofs planted with California coastal plantings.
