Clemson University Life Sciences Facility

MMSA provided structural engineering design for the 100,000 sf, three-level interdisciplinary Life Sciences facility. Designed to house the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences (CAFLS), the building provides flexible laboratory, teaching, and faculty office environments with laboratories and offices for 25 research laboratories, three microbiology teaching laboratories, open lab/research bays and breakout spaces for multi-discipline collaborative research. A 2,400 sf Light Imaging Facility (CLIF) is also located on the ground floor. Designed with sustainability and efficiency in mind, the Life Sciences Building has been awarded LEED ® Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Structurally, the facility utilizes a three-level cast-in-place concrete frame system with concrete shear walls with a ground level finished floor elevation of 730 feet. The elevated floors and roof are constructed using an 8-inch two-way slab floor system with concrete beams and 4-inch drops at the concrete columns. A concrete elevator core and concrete stair end-wall function as shear walls to resist lateral wind and seismic forces. The foundation is designed with slab on grade and shallow spread footings to support the columns and perimeter wall panels.