GE Healthcare Division's new 225,000 SF facility for the manufacturing of components for their digital X-Ray and MRI equipment in North Greenbush will feature a dramatic, curved glass and precast concrete entrance anchoring a two story manufacturing structure.
This specialty Office and Class 100 Cleanroom Building is one of the first of its type in the U.S. to be designed as a LEED® Gold project. The building also includes 40,000 SF of Class A office space, a showroom for product display, a café/kitchen, health clinic, fitness center, laboratories, high security lobby/control station, and more.
Precast installation started in September, 2008 and finished in November 2008.
The project featured:
• 52,271 square feet of wall panels
• 63 CarbonCast wall panels (6-inch and 10-inch thick)
• Sun screen columns
• Wall panels in heights ranging up to 37 feet and featuring two levels of sandblast (light and heavy).
The project is registered as LEED Gold.
It expects the green construction will save GE $1M a year in energy costs.
High performance precast concrete wall panels for the building envelope function as superior air/vapor barrier as well as provide an effective R value of 22 that exceeds the minimum ASHRAE 90.1 2007 code requirement. The design utilized a white cement and pigment to achieve the checkerboard pattern detailed by the architect. The pattern is further enhanced through the use of alternating textures of light and heavy sandblast.
The design also features sunscreens, photovoltaic/hydronic solar arrays, variable frequency drives, highly reflective roof, occupancy and daylight sensing lighting controls combined with a linear roof monitor/atrium allowing daylighting to reach the office areas all combined to save energy as well as provide an enhanced work environment for all building occupants.
The digital X-ray detectors that will be made at the plant are used in mammogram screening, a growing $1 billion market for breast cancer testing. Much like the transition from paper medical records to streamlined electronic record keeping, digital Xrays are slowly replacing traditional film X-ray machines. The devices cost between $200,000 and $400,000 and are installed in larger X-ray machines. The new plant will be able to produce more than 2,000 of the detectors a year. |