Architectural design enhances manufacturing facility’s collaboration, flexibility and sustainability

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop, and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. CRB teamed with BMS for its Clinical Manufacturing Building (CMB), located on an 89-acre campus in Devens, Massachusetts.

The architectural design emphasized collaboration and flexibility, the two main goals for this project. It was important for the client to have a variety of spaces for employees to use throughout the day. The facility’s private and semi-private spaces all boast acoustical separation and partially opaque floor-to-ceiling glass to provide both privacy and natural daylight. The different collaborative room types include enclaves, huddle rooms, and conference rooms. Some of the public collaborative spaces include coffee bars, casual seating areas, touch-down stations, and Mediascape stations.

The building features a beautiful, inviting lobby with extensive sitting space, table space, and exterior views. The lobby is adjacent to a large, light-filled cafeteria-style space.

The fully-disposable clinical manufacturing train, lack of structural support columns within the process core, removable walls, additional shell space for the installation of a second process line, and automation modifications that allow for easy scale-up and equipment modification all combine to make the CMB one of the most flexible clinical manufacturing buildings in existence today.

While collaboration and flexibility were the key goals in this project, sustainability and environmental harmony were also critical goals. To that end, we implemented a number of policies to maximize sustainability and harmonious work environment: Both design elements and ongoing operational directives reinforce collaboration and stress a happy, healthy, holistic work environment seamlessly incorporated into and enhanced by its natural surroundings.

• 11.85% less energy than a baseline equivalent building
• Water use reduction by 45%
• 50% wood-based materials constructed from wood certified in accordance with Forest Stewardship Council’s principles and criteria for wood building components
• Individual lighting controls for 90%(minimum) of the building occupants to enable adjustments to suit individual task needs and preferences

This facility was the 2017 International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering Facility of the Year Category Winner for Facility Integration. Projects selected in this category exemplify the application of good design practices and superior conceptual planning leading to excellent integration of facility and process that yields efficient, clean, pleasant environments, promoting business advantages for staff and enterprise while encouraging excellent processing outcomes.