The life sciences industry is a growing sector of New York’s economy. It’s home to 1,000 companies and 20,000 jobs, and last year area researchers received $3 billion in funding from the National Institutes of Health. The city has invested heavily in the sector, changing zoning regulations to open up millions of square feet of real estate for labs. All of this paved the way for the opening of West End Labs, a multi-tenant life sciences facility located in a 1920s building on the mostly residential Upper West Side that was remodeled into a state-of-the-art facility by Perkins & Will.
For more than 40 years, the firm has designed scientific research centers across the country, including the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Washington and the National Biological and Agricultural Defense Facility in Kansas. It has also been involved in New York’s efforts to become a hub for life sciences, helping a Manhattan nonprofit study a decade ago on how to make the city more competitive in the industry. The firm partnered with Elevate Research Properties, the life sciences subsidiary of Taconic Partners, which acquired the Hudson Research Center development in Midtown in 2012 and is currently developing the Iron Horse Labs research facility on the Upper East Side. When Elevate Research Properties bought the eight-story, more than 400,000-square-foot building 10 blocks north, it asked the studio to renovate it for a life sciences company. “We looked at a variety of properties to determine their suitability as a conversion candidate, and with its proximity to transit, private entrance and direct access to multiple floors, potential as a build-within-a-building tenant, and a 55,000-square-foot center core floor plate, this site was unique,” said Matthew Malone, senior vice president, life sciences, Taconic Partners/Elevate Research Properties. “The new exterior not only improves thermal performance, but also brings an abundance of natural light to the work environment, including the labs.”
At West End Labs, Perkins & Will’s multi-tenant life sciences workplace in New York, the lobby’s exposed ceiling beams house a lattice of custom acoustic felt fixtures that resemble microscopic blood cells, as well as geometric MDF panels.
Though the building most recently housed offices for Disney and ABC, it was originally built a century ago as a maintenance and assembly facility for Chrysler Motors. That made it a perfect fit for the lab; it had large loading docks and floor space that could accommodate heavy machinery. “The challenge was to make the building smart, attractive and effective for potential tenants,” says William Harris, managing principal at Perkins & Will. “To prepare the building for a variety of start-up companies and to accommodate companies as they grow over time.”
In the lobby, custom epoxy terrazzo flooring and custom walnut benches create a sense of movement that ties into the building’s history as an automotive repair facility.
Elevate Research Properties would rent to companies researching cures for diseases and conditions, often working with cells and other biological samples. Harris, senior associates Susan Helsema and Janet Kim, and their team had to anticipate the needs of different types of research and develop flexible floor plans loosely divided into lab and office space. Each floor could house one or more tenants, accommodating up to 360 people. They also had to install new mechanical and electrical infrastructure, including systems to neutralize chemical waste and vent hazardous materials, and generators to protect samples in the event of a power outage.
The elevator lobby’s irregularly corrugated aluminum panels also evoke movement, and the hand-sprayed ceramic wall mosaics are by Alison Shotz.
Space for collaboration was also needed. “Scientists typically work in communities,” Harris continues, citing the many authors behind a single research paper. “We wanted the different tenants to connect and interact, so we created the opportunity for that to happen.” He’s referring to the project’s three shared amenities: a 300-person conference center and café on the lower floors, a landscaped 7,400-square-foot rooftop terrace with Hudson River views, and common areas on each floor, called the Helix.
The latter was born out of clever reuse: When the building was an auto repair center, it had a circular concrete ramp connecting all the floors. The floors were then sealed off, and an area about 13 feet high was used for storage. “We saw this as a challenge and an opportunity,” Heersema recalls. “How do we preserve this space and create an open space?” The answer was to install an oak-and-steel staircase at the top of the ramp, surrounded by meeting rooms at different heights, with a central lounge and part of the original ramp exposed, alluding to the building’s history.
A porcelain tile ramp leading to the conference center is lined with custom oak tambour paneling.
The ramp became a symbol of the visionary work that would take place in the building, paying homage to the symmetry between early auto-industry innovation and that of today’s life-science startups. “It speaks to an aspiration for upward movement,” Kim says. “We’re moving forward, we’re rising.” The theme begins in the lobby, where a ramp leads from the entrance to security and a curved walnut bench beside it. Columns with irregular aluminum pipes and a vector-like ceramic mosaic by Brooklyn sculptor Alyson Shotz add a sense of movement. “We also celebrated science with microscopic interpretations of texture,” Kim adds, such as wooden plywood that evokes neural networks. A grid of overhead light fixtures evokes cells; the lightbulbs are nuclei and the ambient acoustics feel like the cytoplasm around them.
The Helix, a rest area on each floor, features a concrete ramp formerly used for vehicular traffic, a reversible table by Piergiorgio Cazzaniga and a wooden swing chair by Henrik Thorg Thomsen, surrounded by oak partitions and built-in benches.
The intellectual atmosphere brightens in the basement conference center, which takes inspiration from the TV studios that once stood on the neighboring site. A ramp wallpapered with artwork by Sarah Morris leads to a jazz-inspired auditorium with black ceiling panels and a large round light fixture. In the café, which is open to residents daily, Gianfranco Frattini armchairs and Marc Gabertas sofas invite researchers to congregate, and the burgundy porcelain-tiled walls recall the color of old movie theater curtains. The space is available to rent for outdoor events, and Perkins & Will hopes to make life sciences part of the city’s DNA and a neighborhood amenity.
Walk through Perkins & Will’s West End Lab
Insulated aluminum panels and glass curtain walls give the 1920s-built, eight-story, more than 400,000-square-foot concrete structure a new, energy-efficient, light-transmitting exterior. In the conference center’s café, Marc Gabertas’ Oran sofa and Gianfranco Frattini’s Lina armchair meet Studiopepe coffee tables. The café is available to all tenants and is also available for rental to the public. Above a Haller storage system in the conference center’s pre-function lounge, Virginia Jaramillo’s Curvilinear Editions series, which expresses textures seen under a microscope, features a glass storefront that separates the tenant lab from the adjacent office area but allows views. Geometric shapes are incorporated into the conference center’s auditorium, including Lievore Altherr Molina’s Catifa 46 chairs, Grain + Bias Burnout carpet tiles, and Xorel Artform acoustic panels. Sarah Morris’s “Torus” wallpaper enlivens the handicapped ramp leading to the conference center. Glass panels with graphic stickers enclose a small conference room built into another spiral structure.On the other side, below: A 7,400-square-foot landscaped rooftop terrace is one of the building’s shared amenities.
Project team
Robert Goodwin, Brent Capron, Robert Clemens, Julio Colon, Michael Woods, German Ortiz, Hugo Santibanez, Gregory Levy, Estefania Hamelink, Marco Goodwin, Daniel Kim, Michelle Muehlbauer, Pablo Sepulveda, Steve Stobbe, Margarita Mileva, Sarita Mann, Emily Billheimer: Perkins & Will. SBLD: Lighting Consultant. DRIVE21: Landscape Consultant. DeSimone: Structural Engineer. JB&B: MEP. Langan: Civil Engineer. Evans & Paul: Millwork. Farrell Flynn: Furniture Dealer. JRM: General Contractor.
Product supply from the front
ARKTURA: felt lighting fixtures (lobby). WOOD-SKIN: wood panels. GAGE 78 EARTH METAL: metal panels. WASAU: custom enclosure system (exterior). VITRO ARCHITECTURAL GLASS: glazing. USM: cabinets (lounge). STYLEX: chairs. ALLERMUIR: sofas (lounge, café). LIVING CERAMICS: floor tiles (lamps, café). DESIGN & DIRECT SOURCE: wall tiles (café), floor tiles (HELIX). TACCHINI: lounge chairs, coffee tables (café). WEST COAST INDUSTRIES: dining tables. MUUTO: dining chairs. ROLL & HILL: pendant fixtures. CARNEGIE: acoustic panels (auditorium). ARPER: chairs. MILLIKEN: carpet tiles. BOLIA: wooden chairs (HELIX). ANDREU WORLD: cafe table. BERNHARDT: ottoman. NUCRAFT: conference table. SUITE NY: upholstered chairs. SHAW CONTRACT: carpet tiles. TOJA GRID: pergola (terrace). HANOVER: paving stones. KRISALIA: high table, stools. KETTAL: round table. HIGHTOWER: orange chairs. THROUGHOUT KEY RESIN COMPANY: custom terrazzo flooring. DELRAY: circular ceiling fixture. CARVART: removable glass partition. ARMSTRONG: acoustical ceiling. BENJAMIN MOORE & COMPANY: paint.
