Frank Fox, President of Greenfield Architects, a High affiliate company that did the design, describes the Myerstown addition, as a "GMP" area-a "good manufacturing practices" area. The enclosed 15,000 square-foot space within the plant will be used to package the pain reliever Aleve, so cleanliness was a major consideration.

•  "We had to eliminate joints or minimize them as much as possible," Fox says. "The joints [in a room] are always the place where dirt and germs collect. We had to have smooth finishes, no joints." In some cases special paint with anti-microbial additives is used. Flooring also has to be smooth and joint-free. "We used an epoxy flooring system that has no joints or seams," Fox says.
• Window sills in the facility are angled at 45 degrees downward. "It's a profile that does not allow dirt or dust to collect," Fox says. "Everything should be on a 45-degree angle or flush so you don't have any ledges for build-up."
• Plaster walls were used instead of drywall. Concrete block walls with plaster or cement plaster over top are preferred to ensure harder surfaces with more durability, Fox says. "You can easily puncture drywall and then you have dust particles everywhere. A harder, tougher surface is critical."
• The place where Aleve bottles are actually filled is built to be pressurized. The air pressure will be slightly higher than surrounding rooms. "In an area which is germ sensitive, you want a positive pressure so that you're not sucking outside air from less sensitive spaces," Fox says.
• To complement the pressurization system, Fox explains, "the ceiling tiles are clipped and tied down to the grid, and they're gasketed so there's no air loss through the ceiling."

Says Fox, "Going in we didn't have a hard set of rules. We had to go through and evaluate systems. This project is a model in that it will be used as a guide to set the standards for the rest of Bayer's projects in Myerstown."