AM Technical Solutions (AMTS) and Abbie Gregg, Inc. (AGI), an AM company, were part of the team that recently applied for the ENR Regional Best Projects 2019 Awards program, which recognizes top construction projects and the companies that designed the projects.
AMTS-AGI submitted our project work at Rice University in Houston. The innovative project, which began in 2016 and was completed in early 2019, called for a new Class 1,000 Cleanroom in the Space Science & Technology (SST) Building.
The Rice Cleanroom is a state-of-the-art cleanroom in the basement of the existing SST Building. The cleanroom incorporates the latest air handling technology, including dedicated make-up air units, recirculating air handling units, exhaust fans, and integral plenums with HEPA filtration.
The cleanroom was designed to ISO 6 (Class 1,000) standards but can be certified to ISO 5 (Class 100) standards. The project included dedicated grade-level and code-compliant HPM storage rooms with all required equipment. The new cleanroom design includes space for exciting new research and technology, including E-Beam lithography and a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).
Our project work was critical to centralize research under one roof so that Rice can continue to lead the research of new materials and applications at the nano-scale level.
Complete List of Services for the Rice Project
The AMTS-AGI team provided a litany of architectural design services throughout the lifespan of the project:
- Cleanroom, Imaging, and HPM Rooms design.
- MEP support systems design and distribution.
- Structural renovation design — supporting the project scope to structurally reinforce and renovate the basement slab and building frame to support the new cleanroom design.
- Geotechnical analysis and consulting.
- EMI and Vibration consulting.
- Process analysis.
- Tool list and Tool analysis.
- Building Information Modeling (BIM).
- Building background integration.
- Room and Area layouts and Room conditions.
- Code consulting.
AMTS-AGI CTO Abbie Gregg served as the Project Principal. Additional team members included Daniel Novac, LEED AP (Senior Project Architect), Mark Winter, PE (Process and Life Safety Lead), Mark Alavi, PE (Process Chemical Engineer), and Michael Hillebrand, PE (Mechanical Engineer).
“We are proud to deliver a state-of-the-art facility to Rice University to continue their innovative research,” says Sandeep Davé, AMTS Chief Business Officer.
“The AMTS-AGI team appreciated the opportunity to support the design and construction of this new cleanroom facility in the SST building. Because of our impact on future research, we believe this project is well-deserving of consideration for the ENR Regional Best Projects 2019 Awards.”
AMTS-AGI looks forward to being considered for the ENR Awards program. We also look forward to seeing how students, faculty, and researchers at Rice University will utilize the new nanofabrication cleanroom space to lead nano-scale level research.