National Bio and Agro Defense

Department of Homeland Security
Manhattan, Kansas

Estimated Completion Date: 2015
Square Footage: 500,000

The National Bio and Agro Defense Facility (NBAF) is a national asset and an international icon for biocontainment. NBAF is an integrated foreign animal and zoonotic disease research, development and testing facility that enhances agricultural public health. It replaces the existing mission of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) and improves capabilities to meet the mandated national and bio and agrodefense mission requirements of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

NBAF’s design is efficient and secure and projects an image that reinforces its position as the top research facility of its kind. The public areas express a welcoming feeling of confidence and sophistication through the use of a subtle color and materials that emphasizes the relationship of the exterior elements, site strategies, sustainability, comfort and efficiency.

Visible sustainable strategies of water management (capture and reuse), green roofs, onsite renewable energy (photovoltaic panel), automated building system controls (daylighting controls and occupancy sensors) further advance the progressive nature of the facility.

The building is designed around an active, collaborative atrium that connects the public elements of the program, offices and entry sequence. The containment program is then wrapped around creating a dense plan that shortens travel distances. The massing of large research programs are broken down in scale and nestled into the hillside resembling a collection of elements. The interior is integrally colored architectural cast in place concrete, wood, glass and metal offering a modern, yet sturdy image for key building components that reinforces security and safety. Efficiently organized labs and associated support spaces, along with a well-planned office layout, support a quality work environment.

(http://www.perkinswill.com/work/national-bio-and-agro-defense-facility.html)