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Atlanta, GA — As one of the nation's top 25 research universities, Georgia Tech's Georgia Institute of Technology is poised to advance its position with an $80 million nanotechnology center that will bring together the physical and biological sciences in a unique fusion of disciplines.
The Marcus Nanotechnology Building (NRCB) will feature two cleanroom facilities that fuse a unique waffle slab deck design built using custom FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) dome forms to provide the load rigidity and airflow requirements essential to next-generation nanotechnology research operations.
The NRCB, which broke ground in August 2006 and is scheduled for completion in summer 2008, is comprised of two separate areas split by an expansion joint; a five-story lab/office area and a 30,000-square-foot, tri-level design cleanroom. Approximately 20,000 square feet of cleanroom space will be dedicated to nanotechnology, physical sciences and engineering, adjacent to a 10,000-square-foot facility dedicated to biological and biomedical nanotechnology research.
The project's architectural firm, M & W Zander of Stuttgart, Germany, and Plano, TX, specified the unique waffle slab design to optimize airflow and utility (gas/water) exhaust services throughout the flooring system. The design's end-result provides cleanroom filtering by pushing air through the building with uniform velocity and minimum turbulence.
FRP dome design
General contractor, The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, Baltimore, MD, enlisted the project's concrete trade contractor Untied Forming, Austell, GA, to source the unique formwork solution for the waffle slab. Having eliminated wood and steel options, United Forming awarded the bid to Molded Fiber Glass Construction Products (MFG): of Independence, KS. MFG created a range of custom one-piece fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) forms to provide a strong, flexible design to meet the unique configurations, reduce labor and had the added benefit of re-usability for use on future projects.
According to MFG engineering manager Eric Brace, "the domes' custom design focus was the depth of the forms; they had to be very deep and narrow for the size of void required for the floor. We produced three, rectangular- shaped sizes of forms ranging from 44" deep x 18" wide x 38" long and smaller."
Additionally, Brace noted, "Because there would be a lot of contact surface the stripping would normally be difficult, however these forms wouldn't have that problem due to the physical properties of the FRP material combined with a chemically active release agent called Nox-Crete PCE.
