Science in the City: A Day at KPF
On Friday, October 13th, KPF and Jacobs co-hosted a panel and roundtable discussion with researchers, architects, and planners about the future of science and research in New York City.
Despite serving some of the world’s premier research, medical, and science-based institutions, New York City has considerably less available lab space than other major US Cities. Our speakers focused on the opportunities for expanding lab space in New York City while fostering a sense of collaboration, whether through co-working spaces for biotech startups or collaborative mixed-use lab spaces for major research institutions. Due to considerable investment at the State and City level, as well as growing interest on the part of developers and investors, NYC is poised to increase its presence in the life sciences with the help of a diverse set of players including architects, NYC officials, investors, developers, and scientists.
Panelists at the event included Gillian Small, former Vice-Chancellor for Research at CUNY, Doug Thiede, Life Sciences & Healthcare leader for the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Bill Cunningham, Campus Architect at Weill Cornell Medical Campus, and Johannes Fruehauf, physician-scientist and President and CEO of Biolabs. Josh Meyer, Managing Principal at Jacobs Consultancy, moderated the discussion.
KPF’s designs for CUNY ASRC and University of Minnesota STSS are both testaments to architectural ingenuity in the sciences, as both buildings provide ample lab, teaching or community space and promote research, innovation, and collaboration across disciplines. In particular, CUNY ASRC employs modular utility “infrastructure” that can adapt to support a host of lab research in varied disciplines, while Minnesota STSS includes flexible teaching layouts ranging from traditional tiered classrooms to project-based teaching configurations.