This research facility was built for a neuropharmaceutical company founded in 1987 by academic research scientists. Research laboratories and support spaces totaling 80,000 square feet have been built in five phases over ten years in renovated industrial warehouses. Phase IV is the only new building on campus.

The owner wanted an economical but interesting place for employees to work but with the strict environmental controls, ventilation, and security required for modern research laboratories. Program requirements included electrophysiology, molecular biology, organic, and combinatorial chemistry laboratories; a large dividable auditorium with adjoining kitchen and lunchroom; seminar rooms; common areas; and administrative offices.

The challenge was to provide a feeling of light and openness in the middle of nearly windowless warehouses filled with mechanical equipment. To achieve this goal, several design elements were used including skylights, offices with windows opening onto a central daylit space, and no suspended ceilings except in laboratories and offices. The underside of the ceiling and overhead mechanical equipment was painted white and illuminated with two types of lighting: high-pressure sodium and metal halide. These light sources were directed upward producing an indirect illumination of varied warm and cool light that gives the feeling of being outdoors.

The phases are joined together by a number of enclosed bridges and glass walkways, which create a unified complex within this otherwise inconspicuous industrial park.

Red entry canopies announce the conversion of these former warehouses and give the complex formal entrances.

Photography © Jeff Goldberg/Esto