A Home for Food & Metrology Testing Laboratories

Food and metrology testing laboratories for the New York State Office of General Services and Department of Agriculture and Market are housed in the new facility. The food lab provides testing for specific health hazards, purity, and accuracy of labelling in foods and beverages. The metrology lab — part of the Bureau of Weights and Measurements — maintains the State's standards of mass, volume, length, and temperature, and offers calibration services to public- and private-sector organisations to assure that instruments used for measuring are accurate.

Notable design features include:

• A metal shading screen along the southern edge of the building provides daylight into the open offices, as well as into the labs behind them.
• A three-foot thick concrete slab on the ground floor helps create vibration isolation labs that protect highly vibration-sensitive measurement equipment.
• Overhead utilities distribution in the metrology labs, and wheeled benches and furniture serve to enable easy reconfiguration of the space.
• A central accessioning area is located near the loading dock where food samples are prepared for testing.
• Chemistry, pesticide, and microbiology labs (including a BSL-3 suite) on the upper two floors of the building are used for food testing.
• A large training room includes a BSL-3 “alcove” for training scientists how to safely use the BSL-3 suite.
• The use of neutral air supply chilled beams help improve energy-efficiency.