A CINT-alating Project

By K. Robert Wendel

It's used in tennis rackets and bed liners for Humvees, but scientists are only just beginning to understand the complex world of nanotechnology.

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The potential of nanotechnology is literally sky high. NASA and a partner recently announced a $400,000 prize and competition to build an elevator to space. The plan calls for a 63-mi. high, 3-ft. wide ribbon thinner than a sheet of paper that is constructed with a material called carbon nano tube composite. Solar powered electric vehicles capable of lifting 15 tons would climb the ribbon into space.

Scientists found materials such as silicone behave differently on an atomic scale and are often much stronger and more resilient. By stacking these nano particles, scientists can create useful applications such as a sunscreen that uses nano particles to provide protection.

Now it's up to scientists to further develop the technology, and that's where the team of Hensel Phelps Construction and HDR Inc. enters the scene.

The team is constructing the Center for Integrated Nano Technologies, or CINT, at the Sandia Labs with partner Los Alamos labs. The project is one of five being constructed at national laboratories around the country under a new generation of open user facilities that the Department of Energy's office of science is creating.

Other projects include facilities at Argonne National Labs, Berkeley, Brookhaven and Oak Ridge.

"The idea is that a researcher from outside the national labs can come and work at CINT and use our facilities and scientific expertise and conduct research," said CINT user program manager Neal Shinn. "It's about getting nano science out of the beaker and finding applications in the real world."

Work on the $25 million hard bid project started in June 2004 with plans calling for a fall completion.

The Albuquerque office of Hensel Phelps is the general contractor on the 95,000-sq.-ft. project, which is being constructed under United States Green Building Council guidelines.

Some of the green building features include the use of low VOC carpet and paints, sourcing materials from less than 500 mi. away and using recyclable materials. Construction crews were also mandated to recycle 75 percent of the project waste, including personal trash.

The design features three pods off a central radius, with visitors greeted by a long "nano wall" that echoes the feel of New Mexico's Chaco Canyon. The dry stacked masonry wall runs the entire length of the building's front entrance and is a significant architectural feature.

"We looked at a lot of the architectural vocabulary at Sandia and as the design evolved, we tried to give the users >> a lot of options and this is what the staff and scientists really wanted," said architect Bill Wells from the Tucson office of HDR Inc.

"Based on a consensus, we not only arrived at the layout of the building, but also the look of the building."

Each pod contains a 10,000-sq.-ft. laboratory with clean rooms on top of a beefy 12-in. concrete slab. The remaining 65,000 sq. ft. will be used for office and administration space.

"We have some pretty elaborate clean rooms and lab areas with a lot of different applications," said Ron Dotson, vice president of Albuquerque-based DKD Electric. "The lighting system is also pretty sophisticated. It's not your plain Jane type of lighting system."

The project features a complex mechanical system that accounted for 28 percent of the project's $25 million price tag. Three mechanical penthouses combine provide to provide 100 percent outside air exhaust.

"There's just a ton of systems and several types of systems," said project manager Chuck Donoghue of Albuquerque's Yearout Mechanical. "One of the challenges was to coordinate with the other trades so we don't have collisions and can fit everything in the ceiling space."

Like many projects started in 2004, material costs, and especially steel costs, bit into project budgets. Designers and builders had to rapidly respond to quickly escalating prices as well as performing extensive value engineering to keep the project in budget.

"Steel was our biggest challenge, but everything as far as materials was tough," said Hensel Phelps project manager Paul O'Donnell. "We were very concerned when we were getting started because steel was tough to come by."