Leslie L. Dan Faculty of Pharmacy Building

NXL was the Laboratory Architect for 43,000 sf of teaching and research laboratories and support spaces located on levels 8 through 11 of the new 12-storey Pharmacy building. Spaces included 16 Biochemistry, 5 Chemistry and 2 Physiology and Imaging laboratories, as well as teaching labs for Pharmaceutics and Professional Practice. Additionally, the research areas included tissue culture, common equipment, autoclave, glass washing and animal receiving rooms. NXL detailed the design for casework and laboratory layouts to suit the assigned floor-to-floor heights, circulation pattern, and interior design scheme.

NXL worked closely with the design architects to ensure integration of laboratory and aesthetic design issues.

NXL began the mandate by analyzing the existing programming document, and determining, through graphical diagrams, that the 750 sf labs could not accommodate all the proposed equipment and benching. Through workshop type discussions with the users group, NXL prioritized the requirements and resolved the deficiency. NXL optimized the existing program for the laboratories based on flow and connections to write up areas. Support spaces were located across a service corridor, with outside partially obscured glazing, controlling the intensity of the sunlight from the south. In this way, natural lighting was provided to all working spaces, while isolating the laboratories from the environmental effects of the exterior glazed curtain wall.

NXL; Foster & Partners/Moffat Kinoshita; H.H Angus & Associates, Halcrow Yolles