The entrance of the Florida Advanced Manufacturing Research Center has tall palm trees.

Florida Advanced Manufacturing Research Center

Pioneering the future of technology

Project Facts

Location Kissimmee, Florida
Owner Osceola County
Size 100,000 SF
Cost $44.4 million
Status Completed 2017

Overview

This state-of-the-art fabrication lab heralds a new era of technological advancement. Positioned in the region’s high-tech landscape, the facility transcends traditional research parks. With a strategic focus on semiconductor breakthroughs, it stands ready to spearhead the next wave of market disruption. 

At night, the Florida Advanced Manufacturing Research Center is all lit up.

Clean rooms are an essential part of manufacturing research.

The entrance of the Florida Advanced Manufacturing Research Center has floor-to-ceiling windows.

1 / 1

About the project

The Florida Advanced Manufacturing Research Center (FAMRC) accelerates high-tech research and advanced manufacturing in the state of Florida. FAMRC allows university researchers to work directly with manufacturers to streamline the development and introduce new technology into the marketplace more quickly. The facility can create next-generation technology, including smart sensors and advanced materials.

The two-story semiconductor research and manufacturing facility is located on approximately 20 acres and includes clean rooms, administrative space, laboratories, and general building support space. Containing highly sensitive equipment, it requires more stringent vibration control than a standard building. The facility also includes an electron microscope, which must be kept a certain distance from any metal, including the steel rebar used to strengthen concrete throughout the building.

Our engineers optimized the building’s design to reduce construction costs while meeting the required vibration control in the clean rooms by adding shear walls to the floor below. Our team also called for an epoxy coating on all steel near the electron microscope so as not to interfere with its function. We reduced costs by optimizing the cleanroom’s waffle slab design to utilize reusable forms rather than costly single-use ones. These optimizations saved approximately $1.2 million.