A Beacon of Biology

With the challenge of creating an uplifting, agile, and community-focused environment for Stanford University’s biology department, the design team drew inspiration from the National Science Foundation’s Five Grand Challenges for Biological Sciences. Critical to our comprehension of life, they span from understanding the brain and predicting DNA sequencing to interactions of the earth and climate.

The design solution strategically interlaces art with science, infusing the story of biology throughout the building. One-of-a-kind installations engage the campus community with imaginative interpretations of the Grand Challenges. The flex-use lobby located along Stanford’s famous Discovery Walk features photography from a local artist. Clad on sliding glass panels, the composition’s transparency electronically fades and densifies in unison with Bay Area tides.

Designed to be joyful and interactive, the light-filled central stair features a garden of tactile felted wool spheres representing shoreline stones that complements a circular fractal graphic expanding up the glass rail. Custom wall graphics and moiré pattern art at each level further communicate inspired science.

Purposefully arranged, the laboratories open unexpected opportunities among disciplines. Physical barriers were dissolved to create a hybrid of overlapping wet, dry, and meeting functions while lab entries introduce research displays, such as the fossil collection used in evolutionary investigation.

The building’s bright-white, neutral palette comes alive with splices of multi-toned colors inspired by light-filtered plant petals. These vibrant hues provide wayfinding cues and offer each research neighborhood its own personal calling card. Lighting further orients the building experience remaining simple and soft in work areas; in contrast, community spaces are abundant with natural light while ceiling fixtures organically emerge.

Materials such as porcelain, eco-rubber, and bio-based tile are kept simple, sustainable, and durable. Furnishings were curated for their adaptive and high-strength characteristics, emulating nature at its core.

(Total construction cost $133 million.)

Photography: Tim Griffith