The Science and Health facility shows Northern Arizona University’s commitment to their future of science education and provides state-of-the-art research labs that will attract the best researchers and professors alike. The new five-story, 120,000 square foot facility features new teaching and research laboratories, as well as classrooms for chemistry, biology and health sciences. The building includes faculty offices, interaction rooms, several research and instructional labs, classrooms and multiple lecture halls. At the time of construction, the university estimated over 10% of NAU’s students will use the facility each semester. 

Key to the project’s success was both early trade partner collaboration and the problem-solving abilities of the team to constructively resolve issues. During the schematic design of the enclosure systems, trade partners were brought on to provide input in helping the team to reduce the number of different types of systems. The trade partners’ shop drawings were then included in the contract documents, lowering the cost of the system while increasing the speed of construction. During the construction of the project, over 57% of the craft labor used was local to Flagstaff and its surrounding communities.

The project team took an all-inclusive, comprehensive approach to achieving LEED Gold certification that affected all aspects of the project – from pre-construction site selection, responsible waste control, and intelligent design to the selection of fixtures, equipment, building envelope, low volatile organic compounds (VOC) and recycled materials. This building is an example of what a LEED project can achieve when all details are considered and executed, rather one large-scale design innovation.