Cleanroom Design Using the Whole-Building Approach

The most effective cleanroom design goes far beyond engineering multiple, discrete systems.

The imperative to engineer sustainable facilities grows more pressing with each passing year. Not only does sustainable design protect the environment; it provides significant operating cost reductions and helps prevent functional obsolescence.

Adopting the whole-building approach is one of the most effective tools we have today to engineer and design cleanrooms and industrial facilities that will best meet our clients’ future needs.

Net-Zero Cleanroom Design by 2030?

By 2030, all federal facilities must be 100 percent independent of fossil fuels and feature fully sustainable designs. The United States government, through the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), has issued a series of mandates and executive orders to guide the process.

Although the guidelines for private cleanrooms and industrial facilities are not as stringent, industry experts believe that guidelines for those will evolve in a similar manner. Cleanroom developers and owners can take advantage of significant incentives available for adopting sustainable, whole-building practices of design and engineering.

Besides the legal requirements, adopting these practices is helpful for improving workplace comfort, saving money on energy bills and preserving the environment.

High-Performance Cleanroom Design Principles

To work toward these lofty goals of energy independence, cleanroom design and engineering must maximize performance standards. The whole-building approach is the foundation for optimizing cleanroom operation and performance while lowering the requirement for energy resources.

Today, we approach industrial design much like you might approach your physical health. To keep your body healthy and operating optimally, you work out, eat right, get plenty of rest and pursue a work-life balance. To design a high-performance cleanroom facility, we must consider how each system works independently, but also how they all work in harmony.

High-performance cleanroom design requires system synergy. But it also requires that the systems learn and adapt. In the context of mechanical systems, the concept of learning may seem incongruous. However, today’s advanced technology makes this possible.

So what happens when future technology provides for even more effective operations than we have available today?

Cleanroom Design to Achieve a Learning System

Our world is changing more rapidly than we realize. Technological evolution requires constant adaptation, both socially and practically. If your cleanroom facility is to endure and resist obsolescence, it must be engineered to adapt as well. And this requires a more holistic approach to cleanroom design.

The whole-building method of engineering and design adopts an integrated approach to processes as well as systems. From the engineer’s perspective, this means that the design team must be integrated as well. No more relying on specialists to design each piece of the puzzle. Rather, we now draw on the knowledge and expertise of all the project’s stakeholders — across the life span of project’s design and construction — to ensure that the outcome is as integrated as our approach.

DesignTek Consulting Group LLC understands the importance of creating industrial facilities that meet our clients’ future needs as well as their current objectives. We are based in Utah, but serve clients in all sectors, providing process engineering and project management as well as construction and project management. Contact us today to learn more about how we can assist you with cleanroom design and engineering.