Perkins&Will's new plant research facility opens at UC Riverside

2023-06-08T18:36:00-04:00

Perkins&Will has just announced the opening of their new 30,000-square-foot plant research facility for The University of California, Riverside’s College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (CNAS).

The two-story greenhouse design is billed as a state-of-the-art tribute to the “importance of plant research to the culture and character of UCR" and works by “placing a utilitarian research facility in a visible and approachable location,” according to the firm.

Image ©️ Here and Now Agency/Courtesy of Perkins&Will

Yan Krymsky shares: “It’s really a machine, a tool for research. But beyond that, we wanted to create a structure that spoke to the legacy of the university.” Kymysky serves as the Design Director of Perkins&Will’s Los Angeles office, which led the award-winning project through its completion in 2021.

Image ©️ Here and Now Agency/Courtesy of Perkins&Will

“It was important for us to couple practical functionality and the aesthetic roots of the surrounding greenhouses with the...

Amazon warehouses are wreaking havoc in California’s Inland Empire

2021-11-22T19:18:00-05:00

In California’s Inland Empire, dozens of mega-warehouses for Amazon, UPS and other companies are choking the cities with traffic and air pollution. Some argue that the jobs warehouses provide aren’t worth the cost, while others say it’s online shopping that’s the real problem.

Despite the boiler-plate promise of adding jobs to the community, warehouse-laden tracts have been dumping an increasing amount of pollutants into the atmosphere in the form of increased truck and air cargo traffic and propelled in part by a sharp rise in online shopping. Amazon opened its first fulfillment center in San Bernadino in 2012. Today, the company operates more than 30 in the area alone.

Southern California's Inland Empire is one of the most polluted regions in America. One study from the University of California, Riverside revealed an 11% increase in Covid-19 deaths related to the number of particulates in the air. Around 85% of the population that lives within half a mile from a warehouse identify as people of color.

“We’re dealing with smoggy summers that are getting worse and worse,” one Riverside resident told The Guardian in April. “We’re sick of getting alerts that say avoid being outside because of dirty air. This is not normal.”

...

Archinect - News

Perkins&Will's new plant research facility opens at UC Riverside

Amazon warehouses are wreaking havoc in California’s Inland Empire