flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

UC San Diego’s new Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building will support research and teaching in both health and biological sciences

University Buildings

UC San Diego’s new Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building will support research and teaching in both health and biological sciences

The 200,000-sf, six-level facility features scientific neighborhoods for interdisciplinary research and education, using advanced technologies to drive discovery in academia and industry.


By Novid Parsi, Contributing Editor  | September 4, 2024
UC San Diego’s new Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building will support research and teaching in both health and biological sciences Photo courtesy Flad Architects
Rendering courtesy Flad Architects

The University of California San Diego has approved plans for a new Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building, with construction starting this fall. The 200,000-sf, six-level facility will be the first building on the UC San Diego campus to bridge health science research with biological science research and teaching. 

The facility aims to help meet a growing demand for modern teaching and research space across disciplines at UC San Diego Health Sciences and the School of Biological Sciences. Research and teaching will focus on the intersection of neurodegenerative disease, inflammation, immunology, and infectious disease—using advanced technologies to drive discovery in academia and industry.

The design by Flad Architects creates scientific neighborhoods that support interdisciplinary collaboration and education at the interface of biology, machine learning, and advanced instrumentation. The research laboratories enable flexibility in response to changing programs and research, while the teaching laboratories integrate experimentation, instrumentation, and computational analysis. 

UC San Diego’s new Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building will support research and teaching in both health and biological sciences Photo courtesy Flad Architects
Rendering courtesy Flad Architects 

The building program also includes shared research facilities, collaborative meeting areas, conference rooms, offices, and public spaces.

In the glass façade, perforated concrete fins serve both as a shading device and as a light shelf reflecting natural light into the building. The massing also creates outdoor terraces on each floor. The building’s upper floors are offset, creating the appearance of rotated stacks. The street level, with biological science classrooms and shared meeting rooms, will put science on display.

“The Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building will help solidify UC San Diego’s standing as a premier research institution in the field of neurobiology,” John M. Carethers, MD, vice chancellor for health sciences at UC San Diego, said in a press statement.

The project is designed to meet LEED Gold certification at a minimum. Construction on the site, currently a parking lot and service road, is expected to start in fall 2024 and conclude in 2027.

On the Building Team:
Design architect and architect of record: Flad Architects
MEP engineer: Salas O’Brien
Structural engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Construction manager: McCarthy

Related Stories

| Jun 8, 2012

Chestnut Hill College dedicates Jack and Rosemary Murphy Gulati complex

Casaccio Yu Architects designed the 11,300-sf fitness and social complex.

| Jun 1, 2012

New BD+C University Course on Insulated Metal Panels available

By completing this course, you earn 1.0 HSW/SD AIA Learning Units.

| Jun 1, 2012

K-State Olathe Innovation Campus receives LEED Silver

Aspects of the design included a curtain wall and punched openings allowing natural light deep into the building, regional materials were used, which minimized the need for heavy hauling, and much of the final material included pre and post-consumer recycled content.

| May 31, 2012

2011 Reconstruction Award Profile: Seegers Student Union at Muhlenberg College

Seegers Student Union at Muhlenberg College has been reconstructed to serve as the core of social life on campus.

| May 31, 2012

New School’s University Center in NYC topped out

16-story will provide new focal point for campus.

| May 31, 2012

Perkins+Will-designed engineering building at University of Buffalo opens

Clad in glass and copper-colored panels, the three-story building thrusts outward from the core of the campus to establish a new identity for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the campus at large.

| May 29, 2012

Reconstruction Awards Entry Information

Download a PDF of the Entry Information at the bottom of this page.

| May 24, 2012

2012 Reconstruction Awards Entry Form

Download a PDF of the Entry Form at the bottom of this page.

| May 9, 2012

Shepley Bulfinch given IIDA Design award for Woodruff Library?

The design challenges included creating an entry sequence to orient patrons and highlight services; establishing a sense of identity visible from the exterior; and providing a flexible extended-hours access for part of the learning commons.

| May 8, 2012

Morgan/Harbour completes three projects at Columbia Centre

Projects completed on behalf of property owner, White Oak Realty Partners, LLC, Pearlmark Realty Partners, LLC and Angelo Gordon & Co.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




Student Housing

The University of Michigan addresses a decades-long student housing shortage with a new housing-dining facility

The University of Michigan has faced a decades-long shortage of on-campus student housing. In a couple of years, the situation should significantly improve with the addition of a new residential community on Central Campus in Ann Arbor, Mich. The University of Michigan has engaged American Campus Communities in a public-private partnership to lead the development of the environmentally sustainable living-learning student community.

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021