May 18, 2004

Natural Sciences Building At UCSD Wins Design Awards

By Kim McDonald

Natural Sciences Building Credit: Laura Moore, UCSD

The University of California, San Diego’s Natural Sciences Building—the new home of UCSD’s Division of Biological Sciences and Division of Physical Sciences—has won two design awards from the San Diego chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

The local architects’ group this week bestowed one of three annual Honor Awards, its highest prize, on the building, recognizing the structure as “an extraordinary work of architecture worthy of study by the profession.”

Second Floor Foyer Credit: Laura Moore, UCSD

The sun-shaded aluminum, glass and concrete building also won the group’s annual Energy Efficiency Integration Award “in recognition of special consideration to architectural design, energy performance, treatment of energy-related elements, innovative use of technologies and environmentally sensitive design and creativity.”

The L-shaped science building, which overlooks the ocean on the northwest corner of UCSD’s Revelle College campus, near North Torrey Pines Road and La Jolla Shores Drive, was completed last June and is unique in another way on the UCSD campus.

In addition to being the administrative home of two science divisions, it houses state-of-the-art research laboratories and facilities for biologists, chemists and physicists under one roof. These scientists typically work in separate buildings on university campuses, but in the Natural Sciences Building collaborate, in true interdisciplinary fashion, on common problems that cross disciplinary boundaries. The building also features a series of innovative undergraduate chemistry teaching laboratories on the first two floors.

The building was designed by the architectural firm of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson of Pittsburgh, with Architects Bundy & Thompson of San Diego as associate architects.

Media Contact: Kim McDonald (858) 534-7572