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This dance will be repeated many times over in the coming months as hundreds of pieces of glass are set into place, bringing alive the ingenious architectural features of the Janelia Farm landscape building that will house the offices, labs, and support facilities at the heart of the biomedical research center. Beyond the expected benefit of providing natural light and visibility, the glass will play an integral, load-bearing role in the structure. And the glass will also serve a higher function. Metaphorically, it embodies the philosophy of transparent, collaborative science that will take place at Janelia Farm.
The structural glass will be put to use in a number of ways, most notably the transparent corridor that runs the length of the building along the undulant face of both the second and third levels. Though certainly attractive, the column-free corridor is not intended to be merely ornamental. It is a conscious design element critical to the social dynamic planned for Janelia Farm, says Robert H. McGhee, institute architect and senior facilities officer at HHMI. "The glass corridor lies between the labs and the offices, so it helps connect them." Traveling the corridors, McGhee says, researchers will get "a real sense of what everyone is doing, which is part of the collaborative notion of this building."
Moreover, while the offices and labs of most research buildings are not situated with outside views in mind, and often have none whatsoever, the building will allow everyone working there not only an unbroken vista of the outdoors but also the ability to go outdoors. The corridors and office pods will open onto grassy, meadow-like expanses—roof gardens that top the levels below.
"The building is designed to be different," says McGhee. "The office groups, or pods, are arranged like small houses that people work in. And you walk from those into a pantrylike interaction area to get into the labs. So you can't help but run into people, and you can't help but see people as you work. That's really the key to the glass corridors, in the sociology and in the way the building is going to function."
In addition to constituting the corridors, the glass will be used, together with stainless steel, to create two arching feature stairways that connect all three floors. The glass will also surround recessed interior gardens on the ground floor, as well as the entryway, lobby, and pergola-inspired dining room.
The unusual curvature of the building, along with other architectural features, has necessitated customized approaches in engineering and materials design. The fittings that hold the corridors' glass slabs together, for example, and the hollow aluminum rafters that stealthily accommodate the sprinkler system, electrical wiring, and heating and air conditioning needs for the glass-roofed dining area were custom designed and built to specification. Such innovative design solutions are causing a stir in the local world of commercial builders. "We haven't seen anything like this before in Loudoun County, in terms of the complex integration of life safety and other systems,"says Brian Knode, senior project director with the Mark Winkler Company,which is overseeing the Janelia Farm project. Knode is working closely with county officials to ensure that the engineering and design meet all regulatory codes.
Going to such great lengths to bring architect Rafael Viñoly's design to reality is important, says McGhee. "We wouldn't go through this if it didn't reinforce a significant program element of the building, "which is to facilitate collaborative research broadly across disciplines. In other words, the delicate ballet of flying glass contributes to a bold vision of what research can and should be, a vision played out at the intersection of form and function.
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Photos: Paul Fetters
Reprinted from the HHMI Bulletin,
Winter 2005, pages 31–33.
©2005 Howard Hughes Medical Institute
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 A computer rendering gives an indication of how the Janelia Farm Research Campus would appear from an aerial vantage point. The curvature of the building's face dictates a radial design for the laboratories, where one wall is part of a curving glass corridor. Because of the unusual, non-angular design, the architects and contractors collaborated to create 3-dimensional models to ensure that all geometries were correct.
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Building a House of Glass
Photographer Paul Fetters describes the installation of glass at Janelia Farm through his personal lens.
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Roof panels, seen above, are solar-coated to modulate temperature extremes and reduce glare, and will be outfitted with a fire sprinkler system as well as gaskets and drains to handle rain and condensation. Upon completion, each glass corridor (below) will approach 1,000 feet in length. Should a glass slab need to be replaced, a motorized cart has been adapted to trundle the heavy panels up and down the corridor.
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