MilliporeSigma, Life Sciences Center

A global destination to tackle big challenges in life sciences

Client: MilliporeSigma
Location: Burlington, Massachusetts, United States
Size: 350,000 square feet
Status: Completed

The life sciences industry is booming. And it’s becoming a little crowded, too.

Whereas established life science companies used to singularly drive the progress in the industry, they’re now competing against startups and incubator labs all working to distinguish themselves and engage customers in new and innovative ways. To solidify its standing as a preeminent leader in the industry, MilliporeSigma partnered with us to design a new major hub for its North American life science business.

Against a crisp white setting, bold brand colors burst in vibrant blues, magenta, chartreuse and purple.

The company and the research center were created by chemistry, and the design announces that to staff, guests and clients—from the historical displays of milestone products to the windows into the development of tomorrow’s innovations.

MilliporeSigma is focused on developing a broad range of scientific products aimed at helping scientists make advancements in biotech and pharmaceutical drug therapies. To enhance collaboration with its customers and further scientific progress, we designed their highly branded, highly interactive Life Sciences Center. It is home to nearly 1,000 employees and designed to be a global customer destination center, where customers can work alongside the company’s scientists and engineers to solve the toughest problems in life science.

An expansive cafe is one of the many employee amenities in the workplace.

Employees have boundless choice when it comes to where to work, from closed huddle rooms to training rooms to open teaming spaces.

At the heart of the space lives the 15,000-square-foot “M Lab” that facilitates collaboration between scientists and engineers, while also providing a non-GMP environment for hands-on training, customer experiments and troubleshooting. It is equipped with all of the equipment and space scientists need to rebuild scenarios they experience in their own labs—allowing MilliporeSigma scientists to step into their shoes and collaborate on solutions.

The M Lab offers vibrant collaboration spaces in which pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturers can explore ideas, learn innovative techniques, and work side-by-side with scientists and engineers to solve critical process development and production challenges.

The non-GMP lab, designed for manufacturers of all therapeutic types, offers the flexibility to troubleshoot and test without impacting production lines.

The activity within the M Lab is always on display.

004919 00 N14 Cdwebsite — The activity within the M Lab is always on display.

Science is progressing at an unprecedented pace, including advances in bioprocessing, genome editing and data analytics. Our new Burlington campus is specifically designed to foster a hands-on, collaborative environment where customers and our scientists and engineers come together to solve the toughest problems in life science.

Udit Batra CEO, MilliporeSigma

Throughout the entire facility, the MilliporeSigma brand is front and center, reflecting the company’s role as a global science and technology leader. The color palette is refreshingly vibrant, and much of the design was inspired by the multifaceted shapes and colors seen when looking at cells under a microscope. The company’s products are also key elements of the design; creative lighting and displays draw attention to the latest product innovations.