The Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative (BRIC) is a multidiscipline research and academic facility, housed inside a renovated 304,000-sf tire manufacturing plant, designed to break down or inhibit silos from forming, while being friendly to commercialization, industry, workforce development, and international collaboration.
It would have been easier to move than to modernize The Wistar Institute’s iconic Philadelphia buildings, including the original 1894 building and a vintage 1914 vivarium, all embedded within the University of Pennsylvania campus. Staying required a well-orchestrated plan to temporarily relocate people and animals, build a new vivarium under the new seven-story Robert and Penny Fox Tower, and upgrade infrastructure throughout the complex—replacing every major system including heating, steam, chilled water, and air handling—all while the research goes on.
With careful planning, institution-wide involvement, and innovative thinking, sustainability goals for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) facilities can be met by renovating and remodeling instead of more expensive new construction, without compromising the educational mission.
