Campus Architecture Database: Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences

University of Rhode Island, Kingston, R.I.

Building Type: Science

Construction Type: New

Cost: $54-million

Square Footage: 140,000

Architect: Payette; Lerner, Ladds & Bartels

Contractor: Gilbane Building Company

Opened: 2009

This building is organized by a four-story glass atrium connecting two wings joined in an L-shape. One wing contains research labs, lab-support spaces, and faculty offices, while the other wing contains teaching labs, classrooms, and administrative space. This arrangement is intended to allow research and teaching activity to coexist on multiple floors and to facilitate interaction between faculty members and students. The building accommodates approximately 30 faculty members and their research groups, and also includes a 300-seat auditorium, a genomics lab with DNA-sequencing equipment, a bio-safety Level 3 lab, and an aquaria lab. Incubator space for technology commercialization is also included in the building, the first of several planned for the university’s North Campus. The building is designed to LEED silver criteria.

(Photos: Warren Jagger Photography)

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