Science without walls, research without barriers

This is what happens when the best minds in architecture and science converge: lab spaces are created that allow investigators to map the brain's biochemical circuitry, to experiment with matter on a molecular scale, to use light to diagnose cancer without a biopsy. And those labs are configured in a way that literally removes walls, just as it removes other impediments to collaboration and discovery. With the input of more than 50 scientists from throughout the City University of New York and the expertise of Flad Architects, the Advanced Science Research Center building is as ground-breaking as the experiments that are conducted within.

The 200,000-square-foot ASRC building is visually stunning. This achievement is matched only by its expanded capacity for research. It will allow a new wave of talented scientists to join top researchers from CUNY campuses across the city, providing a platform where divergent disciplines meet and collaborations form organically. Researchers from Nanoscience, Photonics, Structural Biology, Neuroscience, and Environmental Sciences will work side by side in the ASRC's core facilities, sharing state-of-the-art-equipment, and ultimately sharing inspiration.

With its flowing floor plans and open central stairway, the building promotes intellectual cross-pollination between labs through the vertical integration of big ideas. In this prime environment for idea generation, scientists for diverse specialties are working together to take on projects of enormous importance, from better understanding Alzheimer's disease to protecting the global water supply.

Flad Architects and Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) collaborated on the planning, design, documentation and construction phase services. KPF as Design Architect designed the building exterior and interior public spaces. Flad as Architect of Record managed the project, designed the labs, and completed the documentation. Jacobs Consultancy provided programming services.