About the Landscape Building

Janelia Farm's largest building, the low-rise, terraced laboratory, or "landscape," building emerges gracefully from a hillside (hence its name) and faces a small lake. Its design maximizes interaction between scientists, a key aspect of Janelia Farm's design philosophy.

The Landscape Building is some 900 feet long and 270 feet deep at the ground floor. In spite of its size, the building blends into the surrounding site. It is stepped up the hill, giving each floor access to landscaped outdoor spaces. The ground floor has meeting, food service, administrative, service, and vibration- and height-sensitive support spaces. The two upper floors are devoted to research space.

The primary function of the Landscape Building is to support the research enterprise. The laboratory floors have similar plans, with a clear organization of office, lab, support, and interaction spaces. The building corridor is at the exterior of the building. Office clusters are on the outside of the corridor, and lab and support space are on the inside of the corridor.

• ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPT

  The planning for both the scientific program and the campus facilities was intertwined, with each part overlapping and influencing the other. The architectural designs of the buildings and the laboratories are aimed at achieving Janelia Farm's central objectives—collaboration and flexibility. Read more

• LAB DESIGN

  The low-rise, terraced laboratory, or "landscape," building emerges gracefully from a hillside and looks across a lake. Its design maximizes interaction between scientists, a key aspect of HHMI's design philosophy. Read more

Photo: Paul Fetters