Drexel University, The Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building (ISB)

Superior Scaffold was the company of record to provide scaffold services to this $49.7 million five story, 135,000 square feet, modern marvel that will house 39 research and teaching laboratories for biomedical engineering, biology and chemistry. It also will have a fossil preparation lab. ISB is expected to be LEED silver and Green Globes-certified, partly because of a bio-filter wall, which will be the first of its kind in an American university. The vegetated wall will be nearly 40 feet high and covered in live plants to help purify the air and oxygenate the environment.

Superior had the challenge of building the canopy along both sides of the busy building, allowing students and faculty to continue daily business-as-usual activities.

The no right angle interior was a particular challenge for Superior’s design team. The scaffolding had to be specially laid out and created so workers could access all floors, ceiling, and the immense 40 foot high vegetated wall.

The massive project is slated for completion in June, 2011.