RUDOLPH AND SLETTEN ANNOUNCE GROUNDBREAKING FOR THE MOLECULAR FOUNDRY NANOSCIENCE RESEARCH FACILTY
FOSTER CITY, CA (February 10, 2004)—Rudolph and Sletten General Contractors announced today that a groundbreaking ceremony for the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory was held at 11:30 a.m., January 30 at the Molecular Foundry building site on Lawrence Road on the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Campus.The Molecular Foundry will provide training and educational programs for first generation nanoscale scientists who will be exploring a new frontier in science and technology at the facility.
The $48 million (construction cost) state-of-the-art Molecular Foundry, a research facility for the design, synthesis, and characterization of nanoscale materials, is one of just five Nanoscale Science Research Centers established by the U.S. Department of Energy. The six-story laboratory is marked for a December 2005 completion. The Foundry will be a 95,000 square foot structure that will bring together investigators from around the world to conduct multidisciplinary research in nanoscience theory, fabrication, structures, manipulation, and imaging.
Speakers at the ground breaking ceremony included US Representative Mike Honda (D-CA), Dr. Charles V. Shank, Director, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Dr. Paul Alivisatos, Director, Molecular Foundry.
Known for its innovative construction of highly technical and complex facilities, Rudolph and Sletten was chosen as the construction manager and general contractor for the project because of the company’s acknowledged expertise in building state-of-the-art biotech manufacturing and research facilities. Recently completed projects include Cell Genesys in South San Francisco, The Center for Clinical Science Research at Stanford, and the Broad Center for Biological Sciences at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
“I can’t overemphasize the leading edge technology and the cutting edge nature of the research and the work that will be performed here,” said Bob Blanchard, Vice President of Rudolph and Sletten, who is overseeing the project. “This is a very technically challenging project that has many unique aspects, and very specialized equipment that deals with atomic particles.”
Elements of construction will include Class 100 clean rooms for experiments in nanoscience technology, along with dry labs, web labs, and a detached central plant. Each of the six different levels will be built to support a unique type of research, and the spaces will be organized to house both resident and visiting scientists.
The focus of the Foundry will be the understanding and development of nanostructured building blocks. Nanoscience, used to understand new properties of miniaturization, is a qualitatively new scale where material properties differ significantly from the same properties in the bulk.
About Rudolph and Sletten
Rudolph and Sletten (www.rsconstruction.com) is one of the leading general contracting firms on the West Coast. As a pace setter in the construction industry, Rudolph and Sletten has provided quality-oriented general contracting and construction management services for over four decades. Rudolph and Sletten’s expert professionals manage each job comprehensively, from site selection and preconstruction services through project completion. With its corporate headquarters in Foster City, the company also has regional offices in Roseville, Irvine, and San Diego, California.
Rudolph and Sletten’s building expertise includes virtually all types of projects with an emphasis on those markets where their technical expertise and quality excel: corporate campuses and office buildings, biotechnology and pharmaceutical research and manufacturing, health care, electronics, and high-tech research. Other areas of expertise include parking structures, educational institutions, housing, public attraction, and retail facilities. Rudolph and Sletten’s current clients include Hewlett-Packard, Genentech, Kaiser, Stanford University, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Chiron, eBay, and the University of California.
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