National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center
Department of Homeland Security
Ft. Detrick, Maryland
Completion Date: 2008
Square Footage: 160,000
Square Footage: 160,000
The National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC) facility provides the nation with a biocontainment laboratory space for biological threat characterization and bioforensic research. This 160,000 square foot laboratory building has the distinction of being the first security compartmented information facility (SCIF) biocontainment facilities in the United States. The entry vestibule includes a sculptural portal that allows secured entry into the multi-story atrium space and permits views to all office floors and controlled access to the building core. A glass circulation arc unites various research areas stretching along the curving perimeter of the building and concludes at individual public spaces and an enhanced daylit stairway. The exterior design is striking in its elegant shape and shimmering glass appearance, highlighted by the constant movement of building occupants.
The facility includes BioSafety Level 2, 3 and 4 laboratory facilities that handle infectious agents as well as forensic labs that set new U.S. standards. While the laboratories are highly complex, the design provides an environment that attracts and retains the "best and brightest" researchers by providing numerous collaboration spaces, large windows that bring light into the labs and provide scientists a view of the outdoors as well as interstitial space to relinquish typical storage problems.
