University of Waterloo
Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum Nano Centre
To understand how small a single nanometre is (one billionth of a metre), one hair on your head is approximately 80,000 nanometres in diameter. A strand of your DNA is only 2 nanometres wide.
The Quantum Nano building features state-of the-art laboratories for Nanotechnology research, ion and atom trapping, nuclear magnetic resonance, low temperature superconductivity, quantum optical research and a suite of clean rooms for fabrication and testing of quantum and nanotechnology devices.
The building was not just innovative, it was completely unique in Canada. The type of research, science and learning taking place here is at the leading edge of nanotechnology science.
With rapid advances in science, HH Angus had to be proactive to ensure that the building’s lab infrastructure was flexible enough to serve both today’s researchers and future scientific endeavours.
We continued to collaborate and communicate long after our formal role on the project had ended. There were significant challenges in the operation of such a sensitive and complex building. We extended our involvement to train the Centre's operations staff and teach them how to tune the systems. For well over a year of support, we taught and solved issues that resulted in no changes to the design, simply passing on the knowledge of how to operate the building and how to diagnose clues to optimize performance. HH Angus’ dedicated team of engineers sees each of our building projects as a legacy for our client.
SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering | Security & Communications | Vertical Transportation Design
PROJECT FEATURES
Size: 285,000 ft2 | Status: Completed 2013
LOCATION
Waterloo, Ontario
KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Flexible design to serve future lab programs | Precision temperature control | UPS | Filtered electrical power
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Ground-breaking facilities
The Quantum Nano Centre and its infrastructure is recognized as a ground-breaking building able to support ground-breaking research, teaching and science.
Design excellence
The highly technical facility required not only high precision temperature, humidity, filtered electrical power, uninterrupted power supplies, but also the mechanical, electrical and communications infrastructure that would meet the architectural and structural requirements.
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Stakeholder involvement
This project was executed under the watchful eyes of multiple stakeholders. There was ongoing collaboration between the building department, university user groups and supervisors, international leaders in quantum computing and nanotechnology, as well as donors.