National Institutes of Health Dedicates Neuroscience Research Center

The National Institutes of Health dedicated the John Edward Porter Neuroscience Research Center in late March of 2014 in Bethesda, Md. Comprised of two buildings connected by a glass atrium, the collaborative 500,000-sf facility provides open laboratories, offices, and an advanced MRI suite for researchers from 10 NIH neuroscience institutes and centers. Construction on the first building began in 2001 and was completed in 2004. The second 320,000-sf phase of the center was designed by Perkins+Will to be 25 percent more energy efficient than a conventional lab building. Sustainable design features include geothermal wells, ground source heat pumps, chilled beams, LED lighting, and a photovoltaic array. The Porter Neuroscience Research Center was built by Whiting Turner with Jacobs as program manager. Engineering consultants included William H. Gordon Associates (civil), Johnson Bernat Associates (electrical), Affiliated Engineers (MEP/fire protection), Cagley & Associates (structural), and Colin Gordon Associates (vibration).