Mass Timber Life Sciences Concept

With support from industry-leading consultants and a prospective developer, SGA has identified scalable solutions for exposing 100% of the mass timber in research and laboratory use.

Two buildings have been proposed that create an experiential research community for today’s most innovative science. The first is a nine-story structure focused on offering a flexible and efficient research environment. The second is a four-story, community-focused facility delivering a wide array of on-site amenities as well as incubator space for start-ups, academic partnerships, and early stage research.

The concept employs a 33′ x 33′ clear span to provide flexibility for interior programming. Organized around a 55’+ core-to-perimeter dimension, an intermediate column is introduced to delineate between potential benching and lab support zones (aligned with lab planning best-practices). The resulting spaces offer the flexibility needed to accommodate a diverse group of scientific processes.

With sustainability, resiliency, and construction efficiency at the forefront of our aspirations, SGA has conceptualized a mass timber building that provides flexibility to empower world class research while prioritizing the human experience.

Expressing the timber framing was paramount and the team took great care to celebrate the natural warmth of the wood elements, both internally and externally. Using moments of transparency to offer views to the buildings’ timber framing; employing expressive exterior wood elements; and prioritizing natural façade finishes, the team created a design expression that speaks to innovation and discovery.

Leverage the future of sustainable science and innovative mass timber construction. Discover the full study here.