Ivy Brain Tumor Center at the Barrow Neurological Institute

Phoenix, AZ

Upon completion, this new five-story headquarters became the largest translational research center dedicated to brain tumor drug development in the world. The new headquarters consolidated operations for scientists and supporting staff that were spread across three buildings; the new space includes a wet laboratory, multidisciplinary clinical consultation space, MR-guided ultrasound suite, two-story entrance lobby, and auditorium.

The structural design is structural steel framing over concrete podium, which allowed for a shorter construction schedule and satisfied fire-rating requirements in an economical fashion. Cantilevered perimeter edges were implemented to maximize usable floor amidst tight foundations, which were severely restricted due to adjacent existing buildings on three of four sides.

A physicist was brought onto the project team who concluded the concrete vault around the radiation equipment would need to have 7.5-ft thick walls and a 4-ft thick to meet radiation shielding requirements. To keep construction moving, our team made sure constructing these thick walls would be possible by engineering access holes in the ceiling slab that concrete could be poured into.

At the time of construction, ready-mix concrete was immensely difficult to obtain. Six different concrete suppliers were utilized and last-minute mix-design adjustments became the norm; in total, 25 different mix designs were reviewed by Buehler’s engineers, as well as myriad RFIs.

All of these efforts resulted in the project winning the 2024 SEAoA Excellence in Structural Engineering Award for New Buildings over $10M.