Brown University’s Life Science Building is the culmination of program development, a precinct master plan and consolidation of several distinct departments into a new research institute.

The effort began with the development of a longer range campus vision for the life science precinct of the campus. Ballinger developed the program for the primary departments, including people from within and outside the medical school, in keeping with the spirit of interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary science. Ultimately, the plan resulted in a new building, housing laboratories for neuroscience, molecular and cellular biology, and biochemistry, as well as animal holding and procedure space. A major design challenge was to retain the existing four to six-story scale of the campus for a program two to three times the size of most buildings on campus. The building physically connects to the existing Bio-Med Center. The facility achieved LEED Silver certification, in the context of Brown University’s “Brown is Green” Initiative.