BACKGROUND:
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service’s Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry (IPIF) located this new research facility in Hilo, Hawaii on a 30 acre property that is co-occupied by the USDA Agricultural Research Service (currently under construction).  The new IPIF facility needed to accommodate current and projected needs for laboratories, offices, and adjacent spaces required to serve the research programs of the Pacific Southwest (PSW) Research Station.  The new facility enhances IPIF’s ability to conduct necessary research to compliment State of Hawaii and private forestry programs. 

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS :
The program for the Forest Service IPIF Facility was to provide for a new, centralized, consolidated, and adequately equipped facility that was highly functional, maintainable, and energy efficient.  The project also needed to be constructed within the Estimated Cost of Construction at Award (ECCA) and project schedule.

The facility needed to provide space for the Pacific Southwest (PSW) Research Station and the State and Private Programs of the Pacific Southwest Region.  The total facility population of the IPIF Facility is 55 persons, including the following research and support groups:

Project size was 32,320 gross square feet inclusive of an Administration Building, a Multi-Purpose Building, a Research Building, a Field Support Building, and two Shade Houses.  The program requirements for each building were as follows:

APPROACH/DESIGN CONCEPT:
The design concept of the IPIF Pacific Southwest Research Station was based upon creation of a campus of simple architectural forms organized for maximum functionality and oriented for daylighting and shading effectiveness.  The one-story campus complex is interconnected by a system of covered pedestrian walkways, necessary for Hilo’s wet and rainy environment. The campus layout offers a number of significant advantages:

• Construction cost savings by reducing conditioned internal circulation.
• Incorporation of outdoor space as part of the facility design
• Increased opportunities for introducing daylighting
• Requires occupants to relate more to surroundings
• Improves ability to secure selected areas of the facility
• Allows more appropriate building scale and increases interest
• Facilitates separation of functions

As an environmental research facility, the image for the IPIF reflects a utilitarian, modern, campus-like character.  Light colors, repetitive forms and components, expression of structure, masonry, use of exposed structural lumber, and introduction of controlled daylight contribute to an inviting research and working environment despite Hilo’s rainy and overcast climate.

A critical design goal for the IPIF facility was to create a highly efficient work environment.  This goal required a clear understanding of IPIF workflow, function, and space adjacencies.  Thus, the research area provides a close proximity of research offices to laboratories, laboratories to field support, and field support to shade houses.  The organization also achieves a necessary flow and staging between clean and dirty operations.

The separate administrative and support services area provide the “front door” for visitors, and achieves a physical separation of day-to-day research activities from those that are administrative in nature.  This arrangement ensures less distraction for researchers, and provides an easier means of securing non-public operations.  The centralized location of common resources including restrooms, staff lunchroom, conference/seminar, and outdoor gathering space promotes social and work-related interaction between all facility users, and is considered the hub of the facility.

The shade houses are carefully located near the field support building, and precisely oriented with their long axes north and south.  This attention to placement and orientation ensures that plants in the shade houses are exposed to natural sunlight conditions from dawn until dusk, and are not impacted by the shade of adjacent structures

CONCLUSION:
Through design, the IPIF facility compliments and supports the mission of the USDA Forest Service to conserve, manage, and protect the resources of the United States forests.  Design goals were met architecturally with a facility that is highly functional, energy efficient, reflects a responsible use of building materials, and provides a healthy indoor environmental quality conducive to worker productivity.

For more information, please their visit:

United Stated Department of Agriculture WEBSITE: http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/programs/ipif/

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