The Los Alamos project expanded the computing capability of what was already the world’s largest computing facility in 1990.

The four-story facility originally housed eight Cray supercomputers and supporting equipment, as well as over 3,000 tons of HVAC chiller systems capable of cooling those units. The condenser water system for the project flows through a series of custom designed in-ground ceramic cooling towers with plascite lined concrete sump basins. These rugged towers allow for the year-round operation of the computer cooling systems in the harsh winter environment of Los Alamos.

This facility was built to house the Neutral Particle Beam Ground Test Accelerator 2 at the Los Alamos Laboratory.

The NPBGTA II was the first facility to “bend” the particle beam 180°, thus making the facility less than half the length of previous accelerators and potentially make it available as a space-based weapons platform. Cobb installed extensive HEPA filtered exhaust systems to catch the radioactive remnants from the accelerator along with “bag out” filter isolation housings and high strength “bubble tight” HVAC control dampers to isolate various sections of the accelerator exhaust systems. To prevent unwanted electronic interference with system controls as well as electronic eavesdropping, Cobb constructed a completely metal lined “tempest room” along with “wave guides” at all wall penetrations for this facility. Extensive cryogenics piping was a major component of the Cobb work scope of this Strategic Defense Initiative project.

The Symbios Logic Fabrication #3 project is the quintessential high-tech facility.
The project included the construction of a 5” chip wafer fabrication facility, along with a new central plant to support Symbios Logic’s Colorado Springs Fabrication Facility. Cobb Mechanical Contractors worked in a design-build partnership with ADPMarshall and remained on the project through clean room tool installation and fit-up.