Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Constructs Innovation Center

The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) broke ground in May of 2024 on the 68,000-sf, $109.7 million Princeton Plasma Innovation Center (PPIC), a laboratory and office facility designed by SmithGroup and dedicated to research in the fields of microelectronics, quantum sensors and devices, and sustainability sciences, with a focus on achieving fusion energy by 2040. 

The north wing of the u-shaped facility contains collaboration space on the first floor, with offices on the second and third floors housing 170 staff. The south wing contains the laboratories, with 10 medium-bay labs and 13 small-bay labs on the first floor. Connecting the north and south wings is a café containing retractable walls that open to a courtyard the size of a football field. The building also includes remote collaboration space and a virtual reality cube to enable Princeton scientists to collaborate with colleagues at institutions in France, Germany, and Korea. 

The building is targeting LEED Gold with the aim to achieve net-zero carbon emissions. Sustainability features include extensive glazing to minimize the need for artificial lighting; multicolored window shades to reduce the need for air conditioning; and a geothermal exchange system with 70 geoexchange wells in the courtyard that will supply about two-thirds of the building’s heating and cooling.