Plumbing and Steam Piping Design for Stanford Medical 1215 Welch Road Lab Building – Stanford, CA
Image Credit: ZGF Architects
Category: Laboratories
Overall Area: 200,000 ft²
Services Provided: Plumbing, Steam Piping
Completion Date: 2025
Owner: Stanford Medicine
Architect: Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP
Contractor: Silicon Valley Mechanical
Project Description
Lead
Stanford Medicine’s new 1215 Welch Road facility represents a transformative addition to its research infrastructure. Designed to support leading-edge biomedical discovery, the building required robust and future-ready plumbing solutions that ensure safe, efficient service to high-performance lab environments.
Contribution
Pragmatic PE served as the plumbing and steam piping design partner, working alongside Silicon Valley Mechanical to deliver an integrated engineering solution tailored to the complex needs of a multi-story life sciences facility.
Challenges & Solutions
The project required designing multiple drainage systems—sanitary, lab waste, storm, and steam piping—within strict spatial constraints and evolving lab programming. Close coordination with multiple trades was essential, and our team implemented industry best practices while customizing solutions for long-term reliability and system resilience.
Results & Impact
The final design delivered an efficient, code-compliant, and technically sound plumbing infrastructure that supports safety, flexibility, and high-capacity lab operations. Our solutions enhanced constructability and contributed to the project’s on-time execution within Stanford’s exacting standards.