Case Study: Alexandria Real Estate Equities achieves LEED Gold, net-zero-ready life sciences space with Thornton Tomasetti structural design

Alexandria Real Estate Equities delivers a 215,000 ft² LEED Gold life sciences campus with Thornton Tomasetti

Thornton Tomasetti was engaged by Alexandria Real Estate Equities to provide structural engineering services for the 1450 Owens project, a seven-story life sciences development in San Francisco. The challenge was to design a structurally efficient and sustainable building to house laboratories, offices, and retail spaces, which required meeting stringent vibration criteria for lab use and overcoming poor soil conditions in the Mission Bay area.

The solution implemented by Thornton Tomasetti involved assessing various structural systems to align with design and sustainability goals, ultimately utilizing a steel frame with a concrete slab on metal deck and a combined buckling restrained braced frame plus moment frame lateral system. The project achieved LEED Gold certification and is designed to operate entirely on electricity, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions with the goal of achieving a net-zero carbon footprint. Thornton Tomasetti's work resulted in a 215,000-square-foot building that successfully addresses the unique structural and environmental challenges of the site.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities