Rockefeller University
Lab + Renovation Projects
New York, New York

Davis Brody Bond has conducted a series of renovation projects the Rockefeller University, beginning with a Modernization Study for Welch and Founder’s Halls, the first buildings constructed for the University. The project re-established the buildings as the administrative and cultural hub of the campus and provided a major modernization of the main campus library, while maintaining the original architectural character of the major public rooms. The study included a Logistical Phasing Plan to accomplish the project goals over several years, allowing the library and existing administrative offices to remain in operation during construction phases.

Subsequently, DBB completed the University’s Hearing, Neuro-Science, and Neural Systems Laboratories, which comprise a total of 28,500 square feet of renovated and fit-out space. The laboratories for the cell level hearing studies required specialized architectural and engineering solutions to achieve the levels of acoustic, vibration, electro-magnetic and radio-frequency energy isolation for this delicate research. The molecular and cellular level neuro-science laboratories research spaces are composed of large wet laboratories specialized, and the requisite support and office areas. The design challenge for this floor was to provide open and flexible laboratory spaces in conjunction with a high proportion of enclosed support rooms. The final floor, the neural systems laboratories, has a unique layout. Animal housing, procedure and testing areas form the core of the perception and sensory processing research program. Support, office and administration spaces surround this central area and allow all the researchers to have perimeter work stations.

Most recently, DBB worked with renowned neuroscientist Cori Bergmann on the design of the Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior, which studies how genes and the environment interact to generate a variety of behaviors and how behavioral decisions modified by context and experience.

Additional laboratory and renovation projects at Rockefeller University completed by Davis Brody Bond include the Structural Biology Laboratory; Genetic Research Laboratory; Electro-Physiology Laboratory; Clinical and Research Laboratories for Addiction Research; Computational Biology Laboratory; Cellular-Biology Laboratories; Immunology and Cancer Biology Laboratories; and Bio-Imaging Laboratories.