SCUP Excellence in Planning for a District or Campus Component, Honor Award

Brandeis University for the Carl J. Shapiro Science Center with Payette

©Warren Jagger Photography

©Warren Jagger Photography

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Brandeis University initiated a master plan to develop a phased approach for expansion and renovation and create a renewed science complex. This will support an agile, entrepreneurial faculty, facilitate interdisciplinary theme-based research, promote intellectual “collisions” of energetic students, provide an infrastructure for modern scientific research, and advance the value of science to the community.

The Carl J. Shapiro Science Center is the first addition to the complex, enabling science to shift from traditional departmental silos to interdisciplinary theme-based research. The transformation fosters collaboration and sharing of core research elements throughout the complex.

The jury said, “ . . . very sophisticated planning response to difficult context . . . consistency of thoughtfulness in exterior and interior . . .”

The existing science complex consisted of approximately 502,000gsf of research and teaching programs spread across 10 buildings. The new construction added about 137,000nsf of research, teaching and instrumentation space. The new complex has over 558,000gsf with 180,000gsf of new construction and 42,000gsf of renovations.

Project implementation was complex. New construction was syncopated with demolition and rehabilitation in a systematic and resolved manner. This approach is based on the integrated, yet complementary effect of implementing large-scale enhancements while maintaining individual personalities of the complex.

The renewed science complex puts open-plan teaching laboratories closer to the research functions for chemistry and biology.

The River, a metaphor for the new pedestrian path along and through the complex, is central to planning development. It organizes lobbies, multi-level spaces, bridges connecting new and existing buildings.

The angular science center fits into the sloping landscape. Ground level teaching laboratories have terraced, outdoor landscapes and views to campus and beyond. Upper research laboratories are transparent and symbolize transformation of the once introverted science complex.

The project continues a history of modernist architecture at Brandeis and innovatively pairs passive design strategies with active systems to achieve a highly sustainable laboratory with signifi-cantly reduced energy consumption.

“The new science center provides a physical and intellectual environment that we believe is second to none for both intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary scientific research and teaching,” says Daniel Feldman, vice president for capital projects at Brandeis. “It pushes the envelope relative to Brandeis’s ongoing commitment to environmentally responsible design and construction,” he adds.

Project Team: Brandeis University with Payette; also John Moriarty & Associates; Buro Happold Consulting Engineers; Simpson Gumpertz and Heger; Nitsch Engineering