海角视频

QuTech Delft

Delft, Netherlands

QuTech is an innovative, mission-driven research institute that works on radically new technologies with world-changing potential. 海角视频’s MEP experts delivered highly bespoke infrastructure systems for these specialist, highly sensitive scientific facilities.

The institute, located on the Delft University of Technology campus in the Netherlands, aims to develop scalable prototypes of a quantum computer and an inherently safe quantum internet, based on the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics. These technologies can be a game changer in many social and economic sectors, including health, agriculture, climate and safety.

The institute required highly specialised facilities 鈥� bespoke laboratories tailored to the exacting requirements of laser and cryo experimentation.

Our MEP team successfully balanced the high energy consumption of the laser and cryo laboratories with low carbon operations in other parts of the building.

The building will contain a suite of chambers where cryo’s are helium cooled.

We advised on making ventilation loads smaller, by placing the measuring equipment in sealed glass box structures.

Challenge

QuTech collaborates on a local, national and international level, with leaders from academia and industry, to realise the promise of quantum computing and quantum internet. The mission-driven research institute, founded in 2015 by Delft University of Technology and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), employs 350 experts at the cutting edge of quantum technologies, with the number of employees set to increase in the coming years as the institute鈥檚 work expands.

Quantum mechanics is the branch of physics that deals with the behaviour of matter and energy on the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.

The institute鈥檚 new 13,500m虏 building, designed by architects cepezed, would need to deliver high levels of flexibility, in order to be able to accommodate future evolutions in this rapidly evolving field of science. This adaptability would need to sit alongside highly specialised, bespoke laboratory environments. The demands of these exacting spaces would also need to be balanced with the University鈥檚 ambitious sustainability goals.

Solution

The University has a goal to be carbon neutral across its campus by 2030. By the same year, it intends the campus to be truly 鈥渃ircular鈥� 鈥� in terms of waste and material flows 鈥� and climate adaptive, with infrastructure in place to allow it to deal with weather and heat extremes. This context had to inform the wider design for the new building, with a balance created to counteract the specialist laser and cryo laboratories where, by necessity, spaces are energy intensive. The building will contain a suite of chambers where cryo’s are helium-cooled.

We worked closely with the architect at an early design stage to factor efficiencies into the MEP strategy. Our experts have designed a helium return system and nitrogen delivery system to supply the facilities. A measuring station area of the laboratory requires ventilation of five-times the capacity of the room. We advised on making these ventilation loads smaller, together with the architects we placed the measuring equipment in separate glass box structures, which reduced the required air and as a result saves a lot of energy, because the surrounding space now qualifies as a regular office climate.

The laser laboratory requires an extremely stable micro-climate as slight temperature differences can change the direction of a laser beam. Working at the nanotechnology level, even slight deviations can not be allowed. Historically, this climate control would be delivered by energy-intensive fan-cooling units.

Our team played a key role in ensuring all end user requirements were reflected in the design of the MEP infrastructure. To maintain an acceptable low carbon intensity across the entire building, our team had to come up with a range of innovative solutions to ensure the efficiencies of the non-specialist spaces balanced the energy-intensive specialist facilities. This was extended to the embodied carbon of the structure itself, with the laboratory areas made from concrete, to minimise vibration, but with other parts of the building designed with a timber frame which stores carbon.

We also supported the client and the wider design team to meet the demands of BREEAM Excellent certification across all the building services and infrastructure.

Value

Our MEP experts delivered highly bespoke infrastructure systems for these specialist, highly sensitive scientific facilities, successfully balancing the high energy consumption of the laser and cryo laboratories with low carbon operations in other parts of the building to ensure it successfully meets both BREEAM certification requirements and is also working in line with the University鈥檚 own ambitious sustainability targets.