University of California, Davis, Aggie Square, Phase 1

Overview 

The result of a partnership between UC Davis, the City of Sacramento and Wexford Science & Technology, Aggie Square is an innovation district where researchers and students from UC Davis can work side-by-side with industry partners, entrepreneurs and community members. 

We provided structural design services to ZGF Architects for phase one of the project, which involved the development of a building complex on an 8.5-acre site at UC Davis’s Sacramento campus. The project included the design of approximately 608,000 square feet of laboratory core and shell space in two separate seven-story structures, as well as an additional 270,000 square feet of core and shell office and dry research space in one eight-story structure. 

Highlights 

• The two lab buildings are referred to as Life Science, Technology, and Engineering (LSTE), with the East (E) one being constructed and the West (W) one still in planning. The office building is referred to as Lifelong Learning (LLL).
• The LSTE-E laboratory building utilized flat plate concrete construction. The second LSTE-W building is planned to be similar to LSTE-E, with the same construction methodology.
• An acceleration contour map of the floor at LSTE-E was used to document and review expected vibration performance at specific locations throughout the floor plate to help guide the placement of vibration sensitive uses and equipment.
• For the laboratory buildings, special reinforced concrete shear walls within the cores are located in a side core configuration to allow for larger, open spans throughout the floor plate. Additional concrete shear walls integrated into the aesthetics of the building facade were used to balance this side core approach.
• The office building utilizes post-tensioned concrete flat slabs supported on concrete columns. The podium of the office building provides direct access to the adjacent laboratory building and includes classrooms and larger meeting rooms to be utilized by occupants of all buildings.
• The project was delivered as a public private partnership (P3) with the design and construction team closely integrated with the project development.