Salk Institute The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Science and Technology Center
- Client Salk Institute for Biological Studies
- Location La Jolla, CA
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Size
Center: 97,140 sq ft
Parking: 442 stalls - Completion Est. 2026
- Program Laboratories, studies, collaboration zones, central hall, amenities, below-grade parking, site improvements
- Sustainability Targeting 50% Embodied Carbon Reduction
- Team In collaboration as a team, with WRNS Studio as Prime Architect and Interior Designer, and HDR as Concept Designer / Exterior Designer and Laboratory Consultant.
The first building to be constructed on campus in 30 years, this project will bring together four key, interconnected initiatives: the Push to Increase Healthy Aging, the Secrets to Strong Immunity, Cutting Off Cancer’s Escape Routes, and Finding the Big Picture on Neurodegenerative Diseases. A fifth initiative, Using Research Data to Create Solutions, will be the through line, connecting research areas within the building to one another and to innovation taking place throughout the campus.
Where collaboration fuels scientific discovery
The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Science and Technology Center will build off the innovative designs in Louis Kahn’s original buildings to promote collaboration and interaction across disciplines, while allowing for expanded research capabilities to tackle the scientific challenges of our time. Spaces to connect in shared purpose, wonder, and community will be ascendant.
A variety of new research environments—wet and dry labs, biological computation space, prototyping and testing areas, team-based neighborhoods, and ample informal gathering space—will help scientists work with great efficiency and intersectional synergy. Inspired by Jonas Salk’s dream of an “institute without walls,” science will be visible and impediments to collaboration will be minimized for current and future Salk scientists.
In service of the research it houses, the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Science and Technology Center will help sustain our natural environment. Efforts to reduce its carbon footprint include a cast-in-place structural system which considered approaches to optimizing performance for resilience and reduction in carbon footprint for the building. Energy conservation strategies like green roofs, photovoltaics, and passive and natural ventilation will help achieve sustainable operation, typically challenging in such a technically complex and specialized environment.
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