With only a few final touches left, the University of Iowa’s new state Hygienic Laboratory is expected to open for operation by the end of July.
In a tour of the building on June 17, it was clear the new facility is nearly ready for moving in. Plastic lined the carpeting in the offices and many of the lab shelves were bare. The rooms still have that “new building smell,” said Pamela Kostle, the laboratory liaison for the building’s design.
Kostle, also a UI organic chemist, said the new Hygienic Laboratory, located in the UI’s Coralville Research Park, will finally address the needs of the lab’s 173 employees.
“It’s just fantastic to be able to have this built like a laboratory,” she said.
And after nearly a century, the UI will say goodbye to Oakdale Hall, the current location of the Hygienic Lab.
Built in 1917, the previous facility on the Oakdale Campus was originally designed as a tuberculosis hospital. The building is full of small labs, winding hallways, and aging equipment — issues the design team has aimed to eliminate.
The Oakdale facility will be demolished sometime after employees move to their new location.
And after roughly four years of planning for the $37.75 million facility, officials getting ready to move in soon.
The new 113,900-square-foot facility boasts a massive second floor open laboratory — the length of a football field — with mobile tables and cabinets for a flexible and adaptable workplace, Kostle added.
“It’s like night and day,” Kostle said, comparing the two buildings. “[The new lab] was designed and built as a laboratory and will function that way for many years to come.”
The new design element of a large open lab with outer specialized rooms will allow for efficient and collaborative work from all members of the staff, said Pat Blake, the lab’s public-information officer.
The designers took into account input from scientists who will work in the labs, and UI officials visited several laboratories nationwide, including the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene in Madison, Wis., and the International Center for Public Health in Newark, N.J., for design ideas.
And as the state’s environmental and public health laboratory, the new facility is an environmentally friendly design.
Light-emitting diode lighting, recycled products, and daytime harvesting aim to reach Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification at the Silver level.
Liz Christiansen, the UI director of sustainablility, said one feature of the building — an outside stormwater runoff swale meant to manage rainwater — worked “perfectly” during the flash flood last week.
“It allows the water to walk-off rather than run off,” she said.
Blake said feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and staff members are ready for their state-of-the art workspace.
“We look forward to moving into our new home,” she said.