When a thrust of a project is to facilitate and inspire top notch research, details matter.
In the 12-story Louis A. Simpson and Kimberly K. Querrey Biomedical Research Center, a structure designed by Perkins+Will, contemporary design facilitates scientific research by easing the process. Research areas in the new 627,000-square-foot facility include spaces for work on diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
The structure has laboratories created with their intent in mind. Built around “research neighborhoods,” as well as connections to hospitals on campus and the Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center of Northwestern University, the spaces engender collaboration and discovery. Through the new facility, the university now offers the flexible spaces necessary for research.
“The Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center is an inspired new home for discovery on Northwestern University’s Chicago medical campus,” said Dr. Eric G. Neilson, vice president for medical affairs and Lewis Landsberg Dean of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Inside this modern new building, scientists will pioneer discoveries that will impact the practice of medicine and transform human health. Here, we will accelerate the pace of lifesaving medical science that fuels the local and national economy, near world-class campus partners and in a global city with unrivaled opportunities for biomedical commercialization and entrepreneurship.”
See Also: OMA unveils design for New Museum's second gallery building
Touted by the university as the largest new academic biomedical research facility in the country, the research center makes the most of limited space in a tight area. Designed with open space at the street level and a glass lobby creating an open feel, the building’s modern design echoes the state-of-art research inside.
About 1,500 researchers labor on nine laboratory floors of the new building. It’s the core a newly unified academic medical district comprising physicians and scientists from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, the McCormick School of Engineering, and the Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute, along with clinical affiliates Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.
“The building was designed with elegance and transparency in mind, welcoming the public at street level and prioritizing varied space types, natural light, and extensive collaboration areas,” said Ralph Johnson, Design Director at Perkins+Will.
Twenty-three labs on each floor can be reconfigured to fit research needs. Positioned at the center of the facility, the labs are ringed by glass walls to allow natural light. Two-story collaboration spaces connect groupings of lab levels by way of a cantilevered balcony and staircase.
A multi-story atrium lobby in the building can be used for events of up to 300. The atrium, located at the base of the building’s curving glass façade, connects to the Lurie Medical Research Center and the campus bridge network.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
PCL Construction, HITT Contracting among nation's largest commercial building contractors, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 50 Commercial Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Webcor, Hunt Construction lead the way in mixed-use construction, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 30 Mixed-Use Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Jacobs, HDR top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 100 largest institutional building design firms
A ranking of the Top 100 Institutional Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Polshek Partnership unveils design for University of North Texas business building
New York-based architect Polshek Partnership today unveiled its design scheme for the $70 million Business Leadership Building at the University of North Texas in Denton. Designed to provide UNT’s 5,400-plus business majors the highest level of academic instruction and professional training, the 180,000-sf facility will include an open atrium, an internet café, and numerous study and tutoring rooms—all designed to help develop a spirit of collaboration and team-oriented focus.
| Aug 11, 2010
UCLA to get more graduate housing
The University of California, Los Angeles, has begun a new graduate housing project that will occupy 275,000 sf of the campus. The Wayburn Terrace Graduate Housing Project, led by California-based construction management and consulting firm Gafcon, includes a residential building comprising 500 studio apartments, a commons building, and administrative offices.
| Aug 11, 2010
Fashion school gives old building a make over
A new art facility for LIM, the College for the Business of Fashion, in midtown Manhattan is the result of a gut renovation of a six-story townhouse-school built in 1880. The new facility will continue LIM's mission of educating undergraduates on the business side of fashion. Architecture firm Butler Rogers Baskett transformed the old building's claustrophobic layout into a modern, multifunctio...
| Aug 11, 2010
Biomedical center to join London's research scene
The UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation, a partnership of scientific organizations researching new treatments for illnesses such as cancer and heart disease, hopes to attract leading medical scientists to its planned research center. Designed by HOK London, the building will be located on 3.
| Aug 11, 2010
San Diego Mesa College enhances math and science facilities
A $92 million, 180,000-sf instructional center soon will rise at the heart of San Diego Mesa College in California. Slated to open in November 2012, the Math and Science Building will be funded by Propositions S and N construction bond program. The blueprint calls for four floors of classrooms, laboratory space, and offices for several science departments.
| Aug 11, 2010
Tufts University puts bite into new dental school addition
The recently dedicated Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, in Boston, represents the culmination of a 22-month vertical expansion of the school's original 1972 building. The $68 million project involved constructing five new stories totaling 95,000 sf atop the building's existing 10 stories, which were also remodeled.
| Aug 11, 2010
Northeast Lakeview College opens in Texas, to serve 15,000 students
After four years of construction, Northeast Lakeview College, the newest addition to Alamo Colleges, is complete. Designed by Overland Partners Architects in collaboration with Ford Powell & Carson, the nine-building, 285-acre campus in Universal City, near San Antonio, will serve up to 15,000 students.
