This new lab and office building was developed as a joint venture between the university and a developer as part of the university’s research park.  The building is functionally divided by a common lobby with the large speculative office space to the west and a wing of lab and supporting spaces to the east.   The lab spaces provide subsidized rent as start-up spaces for new biotechnology companies providing promising research developed at the university a chance to blossom into a self-sustaining entity.  The spaces are not meant to become long-term homes as the tenants are given yearly leases which are non-renewable after three.  Along with the lab space, communal spaces are provided which serve as a collaborative environment to allow lessons to be shared and synergies to be exploited between tenants who all face the tremendous challenge of bringing a new product to market.  The speculative office space could serve as a new home for the companies after they develop.

 

Shared amenity spaces such as the lobby, board and conference rooms provide a set of versatile spaces for the nascent companies to hold meetings with investors and offers essential credibility.  The lobby adjoins a capacious multi-purpose room with a series of large pivot doors that when open, provide a generous and continuous space which could be used for a variety of events.  The labs can support multiple case work configurations and are equipped with standard furniture and equipment which can be added/ removed as needed.  Growth or use of multiple labs by a single group was envisioned through the installation of a door between labs rather than knocking the dividing wall down.  The building was conceived so that an additional bar could snap on to the eastern edge.

 

Photo credits:  Wayne Johnson, Main Street Studio