Finding new solutions to the complex challenges of global climate change is the task that drives the scientists and energy industry leaders who collaborate in the Energy Biosciences Institute at UC Berkeley’s new five-story, 11,300-sq-ft Helios Energy Research Facility in downtown Berkeley. UC Berkeley, the University of Illinois and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have partnered with energy company BP, the funding agency, to create the EBI — researching new carbon-neutral biofuels and examining biofuels’ potential environmental, social, and economic impacts.

The project faced a unique challenge: fit complex, robust MEP systems within the lab’s highly constrained above-ceiling pace — without affecting the budget. With wet labs for molecular and microbial biology, fermentation, and chemical separation, the research facility’s plans demanded fresh thinking from the design/build project team.