Alexandria GradLabs: State of the Art Meets Natural Landscape

August 17, 2020  /  Armando Silva

Alexandria GradLabs, San Diego

The Alexandria GradLabs project, located in the University Towne Centre (UTC) community of San Diego, started back in July 2017. The collaboration between McCullough and DGA Architects lasted several months to design a cohesive, holistic vision for the property owner Alexandria Real Estate Equities.

Meaningful Places

I admire clients who present us with a challenging project. At McCullough, we strive to develop solutions to challenging problems while creating meaningful places for the end user. Working with Alexandria and the DGA team invigorated our passion for the landscape with this project.

The project sits on a cul-de-sac with a few notable destinations surrounding it, such as the famed Brian Malarkey “farm-to-table” restaurant Green Acre at Campus Pointe. A steep hillside borders the west and south end, and the beautiful Sorrento Valley lies to the east.

Located on the site is a 98,000 square foot, five-story building which will be the future home to an incubator environment for other scientific innovators and researchers.

Elements Create an Outdoor Experience

The design approach was to create an environment that correlates the interior and the architectural poetry with the exterior:

  • The east end of the building follows an organic shape influenced by natural forms from the surrounding area.

  • The site appears as an architectural manifestation rising from the landscape.

  • The plant palette takes queues from the surrounding Coastal Sage Scrub.

  • A native hydro seed mix covers the steep hillsides.

  • An 80-inch box specimen Olive tree is a feature at a point-of-entry, accentuated against a backdrop of large natural boulders.

  • A functional bio-filtration planting area that captures and treats storm water run-off buffers the parking area.

All of these elements serve to create a visually pleasing experience as you arrive on the site.

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Alexandria GradLabs is an inspiration-working environment. It was important to us to create a place for thoughtful research, inspired by San Diego’s native environment. Our holistic design demonstrates how the landscape reflects the innovation rising from the institute’s brilliant research and how we engage nature to inspire the human mind and spirit. Since completion earlier this year, the project has showcased the soul of the space through the design of the environment.

Read more about ‘GradLabs’ in San Diego > GlobeSt.com

Armando Silva, ASLA
Associate

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