University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI
Project Size 330,000 SF

Project Description:
Facility Dynamics Engineering provided commissioning services for the 330,000 sf Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation's (WARF) Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery/Morgridge Institute for Research (WID/MIR) laboratory building and associated vivarium. Both institutes are housed in the same facility and provide state-of-the-art genetics and biological research labs, classrooms, and lecture facilities. The project was awarded a LEED Gold rating by the USGBC.

FDE provided commissioning services on all MEP and building automation system components. The commissioning scope for the WID/MIR project was conceived by WARF to illustrate the benefits of commissioning including the use of a documented contractor system start-up process, hands-on independent field testing of operating systems, and electronic tracking and documentation of commissioning results. In addition to the precise temperature and pressure control requirements inherent in a lab facility, this project provided challenges due to an atrium that is open to the public as a ‘Town Center' and is also open to the streetscape in warm weather. The atrium also includes restaurants, a bakery, a bar, public conference rooms, interactive kiosks, water-walls, and a large selection of semi-tropical plant species. The atrium has controlled windows that can be opened automatically to provide night-pure and natural ventilation strategies when weather conditions are optimal. The facility also uses an innovative ground-source heat pump chiller that simultaneously can produce chilled water and hot water under the right conditions. A BSL-3 rated containment laboratory was added late in the project and included within the Cx Scope.