LOCATION

Boston, Massachusetts

ARCHITECT

Payette

AREA

170,000sf

COMPLETION

2017

The new 9-story Center for Integrated Life Sciences and Engineering building includes neuroscience research, systems/synthetic biology research, a satellite vivarium, and a cognitive neuroimaging center. The ground floor includes the imaging center, community and colloquium spaces, and building administration. Floors 2 & 3 house the mechanical, electrical, and vivarium support spaces; and floors 4 through 9 are secured and dedicated to faculty and their research. 

The building shares the loading dock and has pedestrian connections at the ground and renovation of adjoining spaces of the 3rd floors of 3–5 Cummington Mall, new ADA access to Morse Auditorium, a number of landscape improvements along Commonwealth Avenue, a pocket park next to Morse Auditorium, and an entry plaza connecting the open space in front of the College of Communication.  

The building accommodates approximately 20 faculty in the life sciences and some 200 students and staff, facilitating collaborative interdisciplinary research efforts for which adjacent space is essential. Focused initially on neuroscience and synthetic biology, the building’s capabilities are inflected towards biochemistry, interaction spaces, testing suites and computational research. 

This project embodies a collaborative environment, embraces the notion that collaboration happens everywhere – in the corridors, at the desks and in the labs. The building contains a largely shared environment that minimizes privatized, enclosed work spaces.