In Depth

The Architect: How to Design a Secure Facility

Imagine being able to layer security into your building the way you do the plumbing or wiring. Genzyme's Dave Kent doesn't have to imagine it-he got to do it.

By Scott Berinato

In a most literal sense, security is a distinct layer in Genzyme's plans, as intrinsic as plumbing or electrical systems. The same holds true for the company's sites in Buenos Aires and Waterford, Ireland, both represented by rolled tubes of blueprints leaning against a wall in Kent's narrow office. In other words, the level Kent plays at is the most fundamental one: planning and design, not only of buildings but of the future of a growing company. This means he's got the highest level of executives thinking about security. That should make most of you envy Dave Kent.

The story of how he got to this envious position started eight years ago; the story of how he built security into The Genzyme Center started on the top floor. He told both stories while touring the construction site one frigid winter day.Light The 12th and highest floor of The Genzyme Center will become executive offices and, in a somewhat democratic gesture typical of Termeer, the company cafeteria. David Vroman, who works for the contractor, Turner Construction, is with us. "I've never worked on a building like this," Vroman says, leading us toward a low wall in the center of the space. "And I'll probably never do another building like this again. This is a landmark job."

Beyond the low wall is the building's interior signature: a yawning atrium that reaches from the ground level to the skylight above our heads. Randomly, sections of floors below us jut into the open space, disrupting the atrium's basic triangular shape. Still, you can see past all that straight down to ground levela semipublic area with retail shops, a large pool of water dotted with fountains and a café set on an oblong concrete slab known affectionately by the contractors as "the Potato."

From the 12th floor looking down, it's nearly impossible to envision all of this because the atrium is filled with crisscrossed scaffolding. Soon enough, it will be filled with crisscrossed light.

Picture this: A prismatic array will sit under the skylight and capture diffuse light but deflect heat. The light will hit seven heliostats (10-foot square mirrors) hanging from the ceiling. The heliostats, controlled by computers, will move, almost imperceptibly, with the day and with the seasons to capture the most light possible. Some of the light will be relayed to the pool of water, which is polished stainless steel, essentially an oversize cake pan. More of the light will be dispatched to 19 mirror clusters throughout the atrium, each containing seven reflective surfaces, and each of those surfaces multifaceted. The clusters will redirect shafts of light toward dark corners of the atrium to brighten them. Whatever light is left is show business: It gets sent to reflecting prisms, basically chandeliers, that toss pretty designs against the walls.

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