Southwest Research Institute’s (SwRI) growing business and space needs required the development and construction of the new Research Building 299, a spacecraft integration and testing facility. The new facility will include multiple highly technical and sensitive areas necessary for successful satellite assembly and testing. The Page team, working with our design-build partner Flintco, designed the approximately 86,000 SF office, testing and integration spaces. The building is designed with 4 levels, three above grade and one below grade crawl space.

The office and lab space includes a repair lab, mechanical lab, a quality assurance lab, electronic ground support equipment (EGSE) room, and multiple control and conference rooms overlooking the spacecraft integration areas. The environmental testing facility was programmed to accommodate a TVAC Chamber, 150 Db Acoustic Chamber, a 25K shaker table, two ambient pressure walk-in thermal test chambers, an EMI/EMC shielded enclosure, a spacecraft integration area, a Class 100K main integration area with an overhead bridge crane for moving equipment, and a Class 10K, Class 1K and Class 100 clean rooms.

Special consideration was given to the flow of people, information, and materials throughout the new facility. SwRI handles sensitive information and equipment, and the need to compartmentalize both people and equipment, as well as attention to the flow of raw materials and equipment components, played a key role in programming and informing the building design.