UC Berkeley Energy Biosciences Building
Area: 112,000 sq.ft.
Construction Cost: $140 Million
Architect: SmithGroup
The facility supports multidisciplinary teams dispersed throughout greenhouses, warm and cold rooms, shared instrumentation spaces, and state-of-the-art molecular biology, microbial biology, fermentation, and chemical separation laboratories. Accommodating biofuels research and development, the building houses the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), a unique collaboration of academia and industry using biotechnology to develop potential carbon-neutral fuels and to test new means of carbon sequestration, in the quest to help reverse global climate change. Common spaces provide connective support, keeping the focus on interaction in their welcoming lounges and informal meeting zones, which share subtle aesthetic elements with the lab facilities, such as colorful translucencies. Its LEED Gold design delivers on the facility's stated mission