Natural Sciences Building, University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, Calif
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

Lobby becomes the heart of a new campus gateway

	Index | Project Specs
	Click here for slide show. Photo © Bohlin Cwinski Jackson

The Natural Sciences Laboratory building provides teaching and research space for the study of biochemistry, molecular biology, and biophysics at the University of California at San Diego. It integrates all three academic departments in order to promote scientific collaboration among them. The site occupies an important intersection on the edge of campus. Accordingly, the building’s principal entrance occupies the eastern elevation facing the campus, while offices, conference rooms, and balconies face west and feature views of the Pacific ocean.

All building occupants, both researchers and undergraduates, enter through a two-story lobby. Bohlin Cywinski Jackson designed this space both to accommodate heavy foot traffic as students shuffle between classes, and to provide quiet corners for spontaneous conversations. The lobby also serves as an important informal assembly hall for larger events and ceremonies.

Undergraduate teaching labs occupy the building’s first and second floors, while research labs take up levels two through six. On a typical research floor, a break room located at the crux of the L-shaped circulation pattern—visible from the corridor and elevators—enhances communication among research groups. Whiteboards, seating, and modular tables help these rooms do double duty as conference spaces. The building’s open-plan laboratory suites are the largest on campus. Parallel patterns of internal circulation thread through both the lab bench zones and the shared support equipment zones, providing ample opportunities for researchers to encounter one another during the course of their daily activities.

A concrete structure provides mass to dampen vibration for the use of microscopes throughout the facility. In columns and canopies, the architect explored the plastic, expressive qualities of concrete. The curtainwall features low-E, lightly tinted glass that, in conjunction with exterior sunscreens, minimizes heat gain. Sunscreens allow for different solar exposures and for the possibility of increasing or decreasing the amount of daylight drawn indoors.

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Formal name of Project:
Natural Sciences Building, University of California, San Diego

Location:
La Jolla, Calif

Gross square footage:
180,000 sq. ft.

Total project cost:
$49 million

Owner:
University of California, San Diego

Architect:
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
307 Fourth Avenue, Suite 1300
Pittsburgh, PA 15222-2113
412-765-3890 phone
412-765-2209 fax
www.bcj.com

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