UC San Diego
Mayer Hall Addition and Renovation
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Location
San Diego, CA
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Project Dates
July 2003 - 2009
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Construction Cost
$45 million
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Size
80,000 GSF Addition; 48,900 GSF Renovation
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Market
Public University
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Consolidated laboratories better meet student and faculty needs
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Project Overview
UC San Diego needed engineering expertise for the renovation of Mayer Hall, a five-story,112,000 SF physics building. They also had planned a new five-story, 80,000 SF, addition to the campus. We came on board and split the project into two phases, with the addition designed to be constructed first. The space includes undergraduate physics teaching labs, research labs and faculty office space. The new and renovated facilities allowed UCSD to consolidate their physics teaching spaces, providing undergraduates with easy access to professors and world-class research labs. We fully coordinated the layout of the building’s energy efficient systems to meet the laboratory space needs within a short floor-to-floor height.
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Solution
The new HVAC system serving the addition includes two roof-mounted variable volume air-handling units, which distribute air to the five floors below. We used air-side economizers that use outdoor air to cool the building and we designed a variable volume laboratory exhaust system with three fans on a common intake plenum. Our team made sure that supply and exhaust air valves serviced the laboratories to maintain required pressure relationships. On the plumbing side, we added new chilled water service from the existing campus tunnel to the east and installed variable volume chilled water pumps in the first-floor mechanical room. We provided a new laboratory cooling water system and the accompanying distribution piping to serve both the addition and renovation. This system consists of a heat exchanger and distribution pumps located in the mechanical room.