In its 2021 Life Sciences Real Estate Outlook, JLL states that market demand is being driven by adoption of new technologies (like large-molecule biologics and AI), and rapid advancements in innovation.
Photograph by Steve Dunwell
Work being done in the SEC represents the leading edge of science and engineering applications, in areas ranging from artificial intelligence and data science, to the design of computer algorithms and systems, to the creation of robots that fly, aid in surgery, and help people in physical therapy regain their ability to function. SEAS researchers are probing the operation of living systems in order to design solutions to problems in medicine and biology that involve motor control, cell and tissue engineering, biomaterials, and therapeutics (see “Biological Vaccine Factories,” page 9, for one example).
The nature of such work makes the architects’ job challenging. “Research environments are notoriously difficult to design,” Noblett notes, and the SEC may represent an extreme case. “We sat down with the researchers at the very beginning,” he recalls, “to find out what they do and how they work.” One scientist, asked where he saw his resea