Colin Gordon Associates

The New York Center for Research, Economic Advancement, Technology, Engineering, and Science (NY CREATES) is constructing the $614 million NanoFab Reflection (NFR) facility in Albany, N.Y. Representing an expansion of the existing Albany NanoTech Complex, the four-story, 310,000-sf R&D building will feature a 50,000-sf ISO 5 cleanroom, complemented by approximately 50,000 sf of non-clean sub-fab space.

The University of Southern California is planning to break ground in late 2024 on the $315 million Discovery and Translational Hub on its Health Sciences Campus in Los Angeles. Designed by SmithGroup, the seven-story, 250,000-gsf building will provide advanced biomedical research environments in a ratio of 75 percent wet lab to 25 percent dry lab. Sited atop two additional levels of subterranean shell space, the 150,00-asf facility will include collaboration areas, offices, meeting venues, a biorepository, and a core lab for medicinal chemistry.

Brown University began demolition in summer of 2024 to make way for the Integrated Life Sciences Building (ILSB) in Providence’s Jewelry District. Standing seven stories high, the 300,000-sf facility will provide six levels of wet and dry laboratories for research programs in biology, medicine, neuroscience, bioengineering, and public health. TenBerke and Ballinger designed the center with a publicly accessible ground floor that will offer a forum, gallery, and café.

With its Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation, Santa Clara University has bridged the stark divide between the entrepreneurial mindset of its Silicon Valley neighbors and the steadfastness typically found in academia. Colleges and universities frequently borrow ideas from, and sometimes consult with, the companies they hope will hire their graduates. Santa Clara took it one step further by involving the corporate donor in every phase of the design. The result is a facility—featuring student-driven project spaces, interconnected and accessible faculty work areas, and collaborative teaching and research environments—that represents the expectation of Silicon Valley for its graduates to be ready to work across disciplines and on integrated teams.

Caltech dedicated the $210 million Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Neuroscience Research Building in January of 2021 in Pasadena. Designed by SmithGroup to promote interdisciplinary collaboration, the 150,000-sf facility provides wet, dry, and computational research labs for the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering. Standing three stories above grade with two basement levels, the structure includes teaching labs, a neurotechnology lab, a 150-seat lecture hall, conference rooms, and offices for investigators and staff.