Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Completed: 2006
Cost: $55 million

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Shelby Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building is a 13-story cast-in-place concrete building.  The building makes more laboratory space available for the expansion of three research programs.  These include the Brain Initiative, Immunobiology and Autoimmune Diseases and Biomedical Engineering/Bone and Matrix Biology.

Concrete was chosen for speed and ease of construction.  The building sits on a fault that runs west to east in Birmingham.  The resulting foundations include three types of deep foundations for the main building combined with shallow-bearing foundations for minor structures.  Types of deep foundations include drilled piers, driven piles and composite piles.  Extensive air handling requirements resulted in three equipment levels on top of the building.  Equipment is located on the penthouse floor, penthouse mezzanine and penthouse roof.  A unique feature of the building is the rotunda located at the main entrance.  The rotunda is framed with steel and clad with limestone and copper panels.

Location: Auburn, Alabama
Completed: 2004
Cost: $34 million

The Auburn University Science Laboratory Center, a three-building complex located in the heart of the campus, is the new home of the College of Sciences and Mathematics.  The Center includes a concrete-framed four-story, 100,000 square foot facility that houses the undergraduate teaching laboratories for chemistry and biology; a two-story, 32,000 square foot concrete building to accommodate various sized classrooms and the dean’s office; and a 4,300 square foot, 300-seat auditorium to provide for the latest in technology-supplemented instruction.