Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research

The Novartis Building, designed by Maya Lin, is an incubator for community and collaboration within a state-of-the-art research environment. Moving away from the introverted lab model, the new facility promotes engagement within and as well as outside the lab. Maya Lin’s design for the façade consists of an unusual perforated stone screen that wraps the main building’s exterior and is supported by an aluminum curtain wall. The lighting design allows the façade to glow like a lantern, while flooding the high interior atrium with light that is both soft and bright. The building has a gold LEED rating.

CLIENT
Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research

TEAM
Maya Lin Studio with Bialosky + Partners, architects
CannonDesign, architect of record
Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, landscape architects

RECOGNITION
2017 Laboratory Design Magazine: Special Recognition, Lab of the Year Award
2016 Engineering-News Record, New England: Best Research Project
2016 United States Green Building Council, Boston: Material Award

Photography: Anton Grassl