National Institutes of Health

With over 2,000 laboratories, 500 inpatient beds and 5,700 staff, the 12 story Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health has over the years tripled in size, severely stressing its basic infrastructure. To improve its distribution systems and meet contemporary standards for quality, safety and energy performance, NIH commissioned this comprehensive infrastructure improvement program. Because project implementation without disruption to ongoing operations was a critical requirement, six mechanical penthouses were built atop the existing complex. These house supply and exhaust equipment, electrical vaults and transformers, and steam and distilled water support, thereby permitting research activities to continue unimpeded during the entire construction period.