Morris Marine Laboratory Renovations

The original Morris Marine Lab building was constructed for seawater studies, but much of the seawater equipment had been discontinued and planned for removal. BKM was initially hired to complete a Phase 1 renovation of the front of house spaces, including renovation of offices, conference rooms and converting some lab space into new offices.

We also completed a study to provide a masterplan for the renovation of the rest of the building which included replacement of all the existing aging mechanical and electrical systems, as well as space planning for the large open labs that previously housed large seawater tanks and pits. Under Phase 2, we took the first step of our masterplan and implemented the MEP utility upgrades (chiller, pumps, generator, switchgear) creating a new mechanical room, which also included new air handling equipment and high plume exhaust fans to support future lab renovation phases. Also during Phase 2, we went through conceptual design of how each open lab would be converted into smaller uniform lab spaces where a principal investigator (PI) could lease space to setup experiments in a controlled, flexible environmental. UMCES desired to have a flexible work space, so a majority of the furniture, besides a fume hood and sink countertop, are intended to be movable to allow PI’s to configure the rooms for their research. There are an additional 4 open labs expected to be converted to match the Phase 2, as funding allows UMCES to complete these additional phases.