Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Building 50: A Renovation Project Incorporating Innovative Seismic Solutions without Disruption

With the funding from the U.S Department of Energy, the University of California runs Lawrence Berkeley National Lab [LBNL] located in Berkeley, California. A part of the lab is Building 50 built in the 1940s and consisted of three stories.  This particular building houses office spaces and administrative functions with workshop spaces and an auditorium.

To give a fresh life to this dated building, the University approached RMW Architecture & Interiors to renovate the 45,534-square-foot building. The firm incorporated innovative seismic solutions without disruption, which means the tenants did not have to relocate during the construction. Also, the project did not require the firm to change the existing floor space.

RMW offered solutions to upgrade the building seismically by using the new shear walls for the exterior. Since the renovation was disruption-free, the noisy operations, such as drilling the exterior wall for new shear wall anchors, were conducted after office hours. In case the noises were unavoidable during office hours, the building tenants were provided with noise-canceling headphones. In addition, RMW also proposed several innovative solutions, including the incorporation of carbon fiber reinforcement to upgrade the interior elements of the building.

The Building 50 has a rotating museum set in the main lobby. The museum features materials relevant to LBNL’s scientific legacy like the original wood desk used by an American physicist named Ernest Orlando Lawrence.

Via RMW