The Solyndra solar panel manufacturing facility in Fremont, California involved two buildings that were designed and constructed at a record pace in 2009 – 2010.  Construction for the Front End facility, called Fab 2, began within 16 weeks of the start of design and the building was ready for tool installation ten months later.  The 600,000 square-foot building, includes manufacturing and interstitial space, along with a two-story utility pad and hazmat area.  The building achieved the 300 MW production goal and was designed by Degenkolb to meet the company’s seismic performance goal of immediate occupancy, as well as LEED Silver rating.

The Back End facility used an existing 500,000 square-foot building, formerly a computer technology facility, located two blocks from the Front End.  In the planning stage, Degenkolb provided the owner with a series of seismic upgrade options tied to seismic performance and construction cost, and a Damage Control performance level (midway between Life Safety and Immediate Occupancy) was selected. In less than 10 months, both the design and construction of the facility were complete.  In addition to the building upgrade, various production-related components were added, such as utility racks and tank farms, and existing nonstructural components were completed.

Features:

• High performance concrete slab-on-grade for the support of extensive automated factory equipment.
• Design-build delivery
• Service: New Design
• Structural System: Structural steel with Buckling Restrained Braced Frames

Benefits:

• Immediate Occupancy seismic performance
• 10 month design and construction schedule