Feynman Center cGMP Manufacturing Facility and Crossroads Meeting Area: Details Matter

In 2014, Promega Corporation completed construction on a state-of-the-art 260,000 ft2 (24,155m2) facility, designed to serve customers in need of molecular biology reagents for in vitro diagnostic (IVD) assays. As a manufacturing facility built to handle regulated products, the Feynman Center meets strict design and regulatory requirements. The manufacturing area of the Feynman Center also allows both growth of cGMP manufacturing and accommodates flexible manufacturing to meet specific customer needs. The building includes both fixed and flexible manufacturing spaces, with manufacturing suites that can be easily enlarged or reconfigured to meet specific client needs. State-of-the art construction elements include failsafe redundancies to ensure uninterrupted power and dedicated, purified water for production ensure highest quality manufacturing processes.

However, the Feynman Center bypasses the mold of a traditional manufacturing facility, assimilating detailed design and aspects of the outside world to convey a sense of warmth, passion for discovery and a vision for the future.

“We wanted the capabilities of the Feynman Center to not only meet today’s regulations and capacity for flexibility, but also anticipate what’s to come and continue to serve the latest applications of molecular tools,” says Bill Linton, President and CEO of Promega Corporation.

Primarily devoted to meeting Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) standards and manufacturing molecular technology tools, the Feynman Center also features a unique area—the Crossroads—for Promega guests and employ-ees. The Crossroads incorporates spaces for training, lab demonstrations, fit-ness and dining. It also features “third spaces” for employees, to foster creative thinking and collaboration.

In the design and construction of the Feynman Center, Promega worked toward building a facility that complemented its surrounding natural environment and mitigated environmental impacts, while simultaneously constructing a cGMP manufacturing facility that enabled the highest quality standards and processes for molecular biology reagent manufacturing.

Bringing the Outside In

One of the goals in the design of the Feynman Center was to create a space that complements the surrounding natural environment. Although metal and concrete support the manufacturing portion of the building, wood is the major construction material that is used for the Crossroads. The large wood

The Feynman Center cGMP manufacturing

facility and Crossroads Meeting Area opened

in 2014 at Promega Headquarters in Madison,

WI, USA.

Promega Corporation

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Feynman cGMP Manufacturing Center WHITE PAPER

columns evoke feelings of tree-filled forests. The ceiling is constructed of cross-laminated timber (CLT), the largest installation of cross-laminated timber (CLT) in the United States. This timber is nearly as strong as concrete, but six times lighter, and it creates a light, warm feeling in the space. Use of CLT and wood structures offers additional benefits because carbon captured during the tree’s life keeps it out of the atmosphere for the lifetime of the building. Furthermore, when wood is used in place of fossil fuel-intensive materials such as steel and concrete, additional greenhouse gas emissions are avoided.

The entry of the Crossroads features “glacial erratics,” large boulders that were deposited by glaciers that once covered this area of North America. Native wildflowers harvested from the neighboring Prairie Swale are incorporated into the acrylic top of the Feynman Center reception desk, further enhancing the feeling of “bringing the outside in”.

Dark American Walnut originally grown and harvested from the Promega campus lines the stairs in the Crossroads, not only as a representative of native tree species but also providing a high-contrast edge to the staircase to assist visually impaired visitors to the building.

At the south end of the Crossroad is a two-story Living Wall featuring 7,000 plantings of 40 species (native and tropical). The plants, which are watered by a built-in irrigation system, will grow and bloom year round. The limestone bookends of the living wall were locally sourced.

Environmental Sensitivity

The Feynman Center grounds are surrounded with ponds and water features that work together with the Prairie Swale to filter and clean runoff before it enters the sewer system. Additionally these ponds help to keep sediment on site. Boulders have been strategically placed in these ponds to discourage nuisance geese from landing and keep the water free from bird waste. Within the building itself, toilets are flushed using grey water from the sinks.

The Feynman parking garage also features electric car-charging stations for employee use.

Sixty-three geothermal wells buried 400 feet underground support the heating and cooling of the Crossroads. Additionally a solar water heater supplements traditional water heaters for the building. While not eliminating traditionally energy usage for this building, these measures can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of this facility.

During construction, construction debris and project mate-rials were recycled or salvaged, with over 93.5% diverted from landfills.

The Feynman Center design and construction go beyond the manufacturing requirements for a high-tech cGMP manufacturing facility by incorporating features that mini-mize environmental effects and creating a welcoming envi-ronment for employees and visitors.

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3PROMEGA CORPORATION • 2800 WOODS HOLLOW ROAD • MADISON, WI 53711-5399 USA • TELEPHONE 608-274-4330 www.promega.com • ©2013 PROMEGA CORPORATION • ALL RIGHTS RESERVED • PRICES AND SPECIFICATIONS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE • PRINTED IN USA 4/14 • 11825141• PART #WP104

Feynman Center Facts and FiguresTotal Square Footage: 260,000 ft.2 (24,155 m2)

Construction Materials

Concrete:

• 10,000 cubic yards (7,646 m3) = 25 miles of

sidewalk (40.2 km)

• 4.3 million pounds of precast concrete

(1.95 million kg)

Rebar:

• 1 million pounds (453,600 kg)

Structural Steel:

• 4 million pounds (1.81 million kg)

• Clear Stone (under concrete):

20 million pounds (9.07 million kg)

Brick:

• 413,000 bricks

Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU) Block:

• 190,000 blocks

Sustainability Features

Geothermal Wells: 63 buried 400 feet deep

to support Crossroads’ heating and cooling needs

Solar Tubes: A system of solar tubing provides

supplementary hot water heating

Electric Car Charging Stations: 4 stations available

in Feynman parking garage

Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Facts

• 14,133 ft3 of wood products used

• US and Canadian forest grow this much wood

in 1 minute

• Carbon stored in the wood: 302 metric tons

• Greenhouse gas emissions prevented:

391 metric tons of CO2

• Total potential carbon benefit: 692 metric tons

Landscaping

• 7,000 plants in living wall (42 varieties)

• Largest vertical stone at living wall is 12,000 pounds

• 20,000 ft2 of stone patios and paver areas

• Largest boulders about 18,000 pounds

Miscellaneous

HVAC Systems:

• 686,000 pounds of sheet metal duct work

installed

• 824 HVAC grilles and 47,000 feet of HVAC piping

• Fire Suppression: 3,700 sprinkler heads are

served by 46,250 feet of piping

• Internet Connectivity: 296,000 feet (56 miles)

of teledata cabling