The 152,000 SF Danforth Plant Sciences Center provides cutting edge research facilities for the Plant Sciences Institute, an international plant biological research institution whose mission is to contribute to human nutrition and health and global sustainability.

The building’s various operations are arranged in layers to create a passive separation between public and private functions. The laboratories and offices are arranged across two main wings. This atrium is a three-story public space, rather like an internal garden, with two fully glazed elevations and a ridged north light roof. This area is not fully air-conditioned, but instead acts as a buffer space between air-conditioned zones and the exterior, thus reducing the building’s energy consumption. The building has louvered glass panels and colored blinds powered by photovoltaic cells, which allow for a flexible and weather-responsive envelope.

Lab types include biology, microbiology, biochemistry, plant genomics, analytical chemistry, NMR, and mass spectrometry. Greenhouse and head house space is provides for growth of plant materials in support of research activities. Project was published in Architectural Record, August 2002.