University of California, Riverside Multidisciplinary Research Building

Photo Credit: © 2019 Tom Bonner

Defining the gateway to a cross-disciplinary research hub for life/chemical sciences, medicine, and engineering, this five-story building is home to four floors of open, collaborative laboratories over a vivarium. The facility holds 40,000 NSF of wet/dry/flex laboratory space for 40 wet/damp research grounds and ten dry/computational research groups, as well as space for a 60-person seminar room. To fulfill the vision of this building as a multidisciplinary, collaborative space, the design of the building centers around gathering and interactive areas, with a communicating stair in the four-story, open atrium connecting the labs and offering a variety of collaboration zones alongside it. This collaborative atmosphere also permeates the building including an open-air gathering space on the Southern edge, termed “The Arroyo,” which features a café, arcades, and shaded seating as a response to the Inland Southern California climate while offering casual respite areas.

Utilizing sustainable design strategies, the design team exceeded expectations by creating a LEED Platinum research facility—one of few laboratories buildings to achieve this accolade and the first to do so on UCR’s campus.

Building the Team Early

Formal partnering meetings, team building exercises, and events were established during the pursuit and continued through award and completion. The Design-Build team co-located on the day of the shortlist and a dedicated war room was created. The team’s daily site walks to review transition details and current operations, plus the empowerment of younger staff overseen by seasoned team members allowed the entire team to capitalize on innovative ideas and industry best practices. Design-Build offered excellent value for UCR. The project team worked closely with UCR to incorporate Design-Build Done Right® which yielded results in a dynamic and iconic project for the university, students, researchers, and community.

Design-Build Team