DANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE
YAWKEY CENTER FOR CANCER CARE
LABORATORY BUILDING & PARKING STRUCTURE
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Utilizing the last buildable site on the DFCI Longwood Campus in Boston, Massachusetts, the new Yawkey Center for Cancer Care (YCCC) is a 500,000 square foot building (198 ft x 186 ft plan) with seven stories of below-grade parking and fifteen above-grade stories. To help unite the DFCI campus, and to alleviate pedestrian and vehicular traffic, the design incorporates both below and above-grade connections to the adjacent Smith Building and the Dana Building across the street. The facility represents the Institute’s forward-looking vision and according to Dr. Edward Benz, president of DFCI, “The new YCCC is Dana-Farber’s response to the need for the best 21st century cancer care and for new modes of clinical research designed to bring better treatments to patients more quickly and safely.”

The logistical challenges of this project were extraordinary. With no lay-down area, the roof of the mechanical room was designed to provide a construction staging platform, tower crane support, and earth retention to avert the use of tiebacks at the upper levels. Proximity to the Medical Area Total Energy Plant (MATEP), which provides electricity, steam and chilled water to the Longwood area, also presented a host of issues. The low-frequency vibrations produced by its generators, if left unmitigated, would have a severe impact on DFCI’s sensitive operations. The solution, isolate the building from the surrounding soil with a three-foot thick reinforced concrete slurry wall that served as an excavation support system, groundwater cutoff, and a permanent isolation wall. With no physical connection to the slurry walls that surround the structure, the YCCC is literally a free-standing 22-story building that begins seven stories below grade and is supported on isolated piers founded on bedrock.

The project is expected to receive a LEED Silver rating and is a pilot project in the Green Guide for Healthcare Initiative. A primary goal of this project was to achieve a park-like setting; green roof gardens with plantings have been incorporated on the roofs of the 4th, 11th, 12th, and 14th floors and a healing garden is provided as a place of calm for patients, families, and caregivers. Indoor air quality management plans to mitigate potential air quality hazards were also implemented and low-emitting adhesives/sealants, paints/coatings and carpet systems were used to reduce indoor air contaminants.

We are proud to be highlighted in Engineering News Record for our involvement: ‘Boston Slurry Wall Cuts Off Groundwater and Vibration’ and we were recently awarded a Silver Award for Engineering Excellence by the American Council of Engineering Companies for Structural Engineer of Record for the superstructure and foundation work on this project.