The University of Guelph undertook an expansion of its Faculty of Science facilities. The complex was constructed in two phases, with the first being a 4-storey, 360,000 ft2 building to house the Departments of Chemistry, Botany, Zoology and Microbiology.

Phase 1 was the 160,000 ft2 New Science Complex. The ground floor is a research module consisting of a large nuclear magnetic resonance suite, electron microscope rooms, and a mass spectrometry facility. An extensive chemical storage area was also located on ground level, and a greenhouse facility was built on the roof.

Phase 2 featured additional graduate research ‘wet’ labs and teaching laboratories in its 200,000 ft2 footprint. An atrium space provided amenities such as a student lounge area and food services facility. Office and support areas were also included.

One of our key considerations in designing the laboratories at the Centre was to create a customized design to meet each lab’s specific research needs. HH Angus designers worked directly with researchers to understand their clinical needs to ensure the resulting mechanical and electrical fitout would support their research.  

In addition to special considerations, the designs had to be flexible enough to suit the needs of future researchers working in the same lab space but in different disciplines. For example, we designed a high tech lab to measure very minute levels of electromagnetic fields in order to monitor brainwaves in subjects. Another lab was designed for research in acoustics, and yet another for optical research.

The research labs were designed as multipurpose facilities for non-human primates. Mechanical services were designed to meet all the requirements of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC). The ventilation system provides 100% outside air to all rooms. Temperature and pressurization are maintained by constant volume supply air with terminal reheat coils.

A dedicated indoor chiller with air-cooled condenser was installed to ensure year-round cooling for the facility in order to maintain consistent environmental conditions for research and for subjects. The MRI employs a dedicated closed cooling loop with city water emergency back-up loop. It was designed for use with both humans and non-human primates.

A later 4,275 m2 (~46,000 ft2) addition houses the new Cancer Research Institute. This brings together three internationally recognized cancer research groups: the National Cancer Institute of Canada’s Clinical Trials Group; the Queen’s Cancer Research Laboratory; and the Radiation Oncology Research Unit.