New Facility Recognized in Lab Design Competition

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and HDR Inc. will accept an award on March 29 for "high honors" in R&D Magazine’s 2005 Lab of the Year competition for the Advanced Measurement Laboratory, a new facility completed last year on NIST's Gaithersburg, Md., campus. HDR provided architecture and engineering services on the project.

The $235 million facility, regarded as the most technologically advanced research facility of its kind in the world, was judged by a jury of representatives from the architectural, scientific and laboratory equipment communities, as well as R&D Magazine editors. Specific criteria the judges considered included siting, planning, traffic flow, aesthetics, working conditions, lab design, opportunities for collaboration and idea exchange, energy efficiency, cost to build and cost to operate.

The AML is an essential part of NIST’s mission of advancing U.S. technological competitiveness. The new facility allows NIST to provide the sophisticated measurements and standards needed by U.S. industry and the scientific community for key 21st-century technologies such as nanotechnology, semiconductors, biotechnology, advanced materials, quantum computing and advanced manufacturing. It provides NIST researchers with simultaneous tight control of temperature, humidity, acoustics and vibration, as well as excellent air cleanliness and electrical power quality. The facility was dedicated on June 21, 2004.

For further information on the AML, see www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/aml_dedication.htm.