The new $66 million-dollar Plant Sciences Building has officially opened on the Washington State University campus in Pullman, Wash.
The 82,437-sf building is the latest addition to the V. Lane Rawlins Research and Education Complex and will support Washington’s $51 billion food and agriculture industry by providing a modern research venue for faculty and students in the Institute of Biological Chemistry, WSU’s Molecular Plant Science Program, and portions of the Departments of Horticulture, Plant Pathology, and Crop and Soil Sciences.
The building’s exterior reimagines the red-brick campus vernacular in a new architectural approach using a high-performance precast concrete facade panel system clad with a sculpted, red-brick veneer. These panels comprise structure, insulation, weather barrier, interior, and exterior finishes within a single prefabricated component.
The facility will be a social and interdisciplinary heart for the research complex. It is designed for flexibility and hosts infrastructure for a variety of research needs beyond the College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences. At the western entry, the building’s cantilevered composition frames a new grand entry for the whole complex.
A four-floor staircase encourages vertical circulation and provides visual connection between floors. At every level, centralized social spaces link circulation elements with the REC’s central spine, designed to fuel spontaneous collaboration within the communal core.
The interior arrangement of laboratories is designed to support efficient and flexible research. The modular laboratories can be easily rearranged to respond to the changing needs of research throughout the building. Offices to the north of the laboratories for Principal Investigators are interspersed with open work areas for graduate researchers. To the south of the laboratories are a series of modular support spaces that accommodate a variety of specialized research equipment within easy reach of the adjacent lab benches.
The project was designed and constructed by the design/build team of Skanska and LMN Architects.
Related Stories
Laboratories | Oct 14, 2021
‘Next-generation’ Quest Diagnostics lab unveiled in New Jersey
Mark Cavagnero Associates designed the project.
Laboratories | Aug 31, 2021
Pandemic puts science and technology facilities at center stage
Expanding demand for labs and life science space is spurring new construction and improvements in existing buildings.
Giants 400 | Aug 30, 2021
2021 Giants 400 Report: Ranking the largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S.
The 2021 Giants 400 Report includes more than 130 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Laboratories | Aug 30, 2021
Science in the sky: Designing high-rise research labs
Recognizing the inherent socioeconomic and environmental benefits of high-density design, research corporations have boldly embraced high-rise research labs.
Laboratories | Aug 25, 2021
Lab design strategies for renovations and adaptive reuse
Lab design experts in HOK’s Science + Technology group outline the challenges organizations must understand before renovating a lab or converting an existing building into research space.
Architects | Aug 5, 2021
Lord Aeck Sargent's post-Katerra future, with LAS President Joe Greco
After three years under the ownership of Katerra, which closed its North American operations last May, the architecture firm Lord Aeck Sargent is re-establishing itself as an independent company, with an eye toward strengthening its eight practices and regional presence in the U.S.
Architects | Aug 5, 2021
Lord Aeck Sargent's post-Katerra future, with LAS President Joe Greco
After three years under the ownership of Katerra, which closed its North American operations last May, the architecture firm Lord Aeck Sargent is re-establishing itself as an independent company, with an eye toward strengthening its eight practices and regional presence in the U.S.
Laboratories | May 6, 2021
The big shift: How laboratory design should respond to personalized medicine
Crucial to the success of personalized medicine is the “big shift” away from large-scale pharmaceutical manufacturing to small-scale lab manufacturing.
Laboratories | Mar 10, 2021
8 tips for converting office space to life sciences labs
Creating a successful life sciences facility within the shell of a former office building can be much like that old “square peg round hole” paradigm. Two experts offer important advice.