Broad Center for the Biological Sciences
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, Calif.
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners / SmithGroup

Pei Cobb Freed and SmithGroup use scale, proportion, and massing to relate a modern lab to a Spanish colonial campus

By Suzanne Stephens

© Timothy Hursley

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

Cal Tech may be famous in the scientific community for its research and training, but it is also revered by many in the architectural world for its handsomely arcaded Spanish Renaissance­ and Mission-style campus. The romantic sensibility of the original master plan, developed by Bertram Goodhue in 1915­17, was marred, however, by garishly unsympathetic expansion in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1985, the city of Pasadena began reviewing major changes on the campus. A new master plan conceived for the school in 1989 encouraged additional buildings to reinforce the architecture and planning of the Goodhue vision but couldn't guarantee adherence to the proportions and delicacy of ornament of the originals. Then a proposal for a new biological research center came along that opened up issues of historicism. The lead donor for the center, Eli Broad, chairman of AIG SunAmerica financial services company and a renowned patron of the arts and architecture, wanted a "high design" architect. Broad and Baltimore chose Pei Cobb Freed. "We were taken by James Freed's ‘hybrid' architectural approach," explains Broad, alluding to the architect's desire to bridge the old campus to the south with future expansion to the north through the building's carefully massed blocks of stainless steel and travertine.

Because of the firm's New York location, Cal Tech asked it to associate with the SmithGroup, whose Los Angeles office, headed by Susan O'Connell, has designed a number of educational buildings in the area.

The program called for an 118,000-square-foot laboratory flexible enough for the "primary investigators" and their research teams. Needed were labs with work space for computers, wet areas for experiments, plus an experimental Magnetic Resonance Imaging facility, along with seminar rooms and a 100-seat auditorium. But just as important were lounges that could foster casual interaction between students and professors of various disciplines. In addition, the lab was not only to serve as a gateway for future expansion to the north, but to hook into the circulation routes for the rest of the campus to the south.

To preserve the open space on the 2.2-acre site, Freed opted for a double-cube block, and Arup engineers addressed earthquake concerns with an unbonded, braced-steel-frame structure. The plan, essentially a grid with cross-axial circulation, places labs on north, west, and east sides, with nontechnical spaces, including the entrance, extending along the southern portion. A 67-foot-tall "light tower" with a monumental stair at its base is included to give a sense of space and architectonic drama to the interior. The south facade, oriented to the existing campus, is clad in travertine to echo the solid surfaces of the older buildings. The other exterior walls, which enclose the labs, are sheathed in a shimmering knock-'em-dead stainless steel with an embossed finish.

See the November 2003 issue of Architectural Record for full story. Click here for more about the technology behind this building.

Formal name of Project:
Broad Center for the Biological Sciences
California Institute of Technology

Location:
Pasadena, Calif.

Gross square footage:
120,000 sq. ft.

Total construction cost:
$47 million

Owner:
California Institute of Technology

Architect:
Design Architect:
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
88 Pine Street
New York, NY 10005
Ph 212-751-3122
F 212-872-5443
www.pcfandp.com

Executive Architect:
SmithGroup
444 South Flower Street
Suite 4700
Los Angeles, CA 90071
ph 213-228-6900
f 213-622-0091
www.smithgroup.com