Brookhaven National Lab Opens Interdisciplinary Science Building

The U.S. Department of Energy opened the $66.8 million Interdisciplinary Science Building at Brookhaven National Lab in April of 2013. Located in Upton, N.Y., the two-story, 87,700-sf facility provides 60 laboratories for research on renewable energy and nanomaterials. The ISB features a humidity-controlled dry room for battery assembly and testing and vibration-mitigated labs for spectroscopic imaging scanning tunneling microscopy (SI-STM) and molecular beam epitaxy fabrication. LEED Gold sustainable design certification will be sought for the facility, which will use 37 percent less energy and 55 percent less potable water than a comparable conventional building. The facility uses a heat recovery system and advanced lighting technologies to deliver a savings of 29 percent over standard operating costs. General contractor E.W. Howell of Plainview, N.Y., broke ground on the ISB in August of 2010. The project was supported by $18.6 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.