The design of the Center arises from the interplay of new and old to create a leading vertical laboratory facility. While incorporating the historical character of the site and its existing façades, the updated facility is optimized for the twenty-first century.
Richard Olcott, Design Partner
The design preserves three existing, six-story, 100-year-old façades, integrating a new building behind and expanding with ten additional stories of vertical laboratory space.
Addressing the challenge of creating a collegial research environment in a vertical laboratory, the new open plan, loft-like facility contains “vertical communities” – suites of floors connected by floor openings, communicating stairs between every two floors for ease of access and flow, and shared amenities between floors to foster cross-disciplinary interaction.
A vertical plane of glass unifies the building, offering a sense of space and visual contact throughout. As a common visual thread between the new and the old, the transparent plane provides enclosure for the building addition on the upper floors and defines the inside wall of offices on the lower floors.
