Gallery
“...A straightforward solution that uses the repetitive forms to achieve an elegant composition. Rather than use architecture to decorate utility, the designer turns the process around, making a virtue of this direct expression of function.”Contsruction Products Council/AIA St. Louis - Judges Award for Architecture
Description
The Sears Plant Growth facility, a free-standing plant transformation lab, confirms the university’s position as a leader in plant sciences and plant genetic research, while the facility’s exterior complements neighboring buildings. The design maximizes the scale of the building and applies standard greenhouse methods to this “non-traditional” greenhouse.
A modular planning strategy was employed to ensure flexibility, enabling areas to be shared or reallocated with changes in grant requirements, program characteristics, or collaborative initiatives. Four of the 12 modules incorporate exacting climate, air quality, and humidity control for transgenic experimentation, with other areas supporting agribiology, microbiology, and agronomy. Other highly specialized functions include long-term storage of germ plasm, representing valuable seeds that have been identified and tagged for continuity of plant research.
Distinctions
- AIA St. Louis
- Architecture Award
- Construction Products Council/AIA of St. Louis
- Judges Award for Architecture
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“...A straightforward solution that uses the repetitive forms to achieve an elegant composition. Rather than use architecture to decorate utility, the designer turns the process around, making a virtue of this direct expression of function.”