The study of biology has many disciplines and each has different needs. CalTech wanted these disciplines brought together in a single building, enabling researchers to share ideas as well as common areas. The five-story building helps Caltech do just that. Designed by New York’s Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and Los Angeles’ SmithGroup, the building combines specialized facilities used by each of the life sciences with a design that brings together the researchers who lead these disciplines.

The building houses a vivarium that supports developmental and neurological research. The basement level houses an experimental MRI suite with three magnetic imaging stations. The first floor consists of a supercomputer that crunches numbers for computational biologists, who create computer models of DNA structures. An array of laboratories, fume hoods, and environmental rooms occupies the central core of the building along with biology labs, support offices, auditorium and mechanical rooms.