Sylvia Richards combines timber with mirrors for "supernatural" effect in New Hampshire
Wood is paired with mirrored panels on the exterior of a research building for biotech company Adimab, which was designed by Sylvia Richards Practice for Architecture to blend with its forested setting and preserve a wetland.
Located in Lebanon, New Hampshire, the building is part of the headquarters for Adimab, a biotech company that develops antibodies for infectious and autoimmune diseases.
Since its founding in 2007, the company has grown considerably and become a global leader in its field, resulting in the need for more space.
"The need for more lab and support functions has grown in lockstep with additions to its workforce, now totalling over 140 employees," said local studio Sylvia Richards Practice for Architecture.
The company set out to accommodate this growth – and to continue attracting top-tier talent – by adding its first purpose-built research facility to its wooded campus.
For the new facility, Richards's studio conceived a 27,000-square-foot (2,508-square-metre) building that respects the landscape, which includes an adjacent wetland.
Rectangular in plan, the building has three levels. Going vertical rather than spreading out enabled the architects to provide ample square footage while maintaining a compact footprint.
Its campus sits within New Hampshire's Upper Valley, a region known for its verdant landscapes and quaint towns. Dartmouth College, an Ivy League school, is located in the area. Boston is about two hours away by car.
The other structures on campus are existing buildings that Adimab purchased and retrofitted over the years. Sylvia Richards Practice for Architecture led all of the prior design work.
One of Adimab's cofounders, the scientist Tillman Gerngross, is the husband of studio founder Sylvia Richards.
For the structural system, the team used mass timber, including cross-laminated timber (CLT) for shear walls and decking and a glue-laminated post-and-beam system. Wooden elements were left exposed.
"The building components are elemental and expressed as parts of a whole and plainly visible," the team said.
Facades are clad in a rain screen made of Atlantic cedar, which the studio says was sustainably harvested. The screen is mostly composed of vertical boards, although some were placed at an angle, adding visual interest.
The exterior also features bronze screening and large windows framed with white oak and aluminium.
"The rendering of the exterior materials is crisp and light – accentuating architectural materiality and tectonics," the studio said.
Its base level is wrapped in mirrored panels, which upend "conventions of weight and mass".
"The treatment disconnects the building from the ground, allowing the upper two stories to float lightly above the landscape while it reflects the surrounding nature in its mirror," the team said.
"The effect is supernatural and surreal, challenging the basic tenets of what a building is and how it relates to its surroundings."
The project required the construction of an employee parking lot, which had to be placed away from the wetland.
To connect the lot to the new building, the team created a sinuous, 182-foot-long (55-metre) ramp that winds through the woods. Steel, including Corten steel, was used to construct the walkway.
"Evoking the monumental and raw forms of artist Richard Serra, the ramp provides an elevated, winding path through the woods that employees pass through upon entering the workplace," the studio said.
Inside, one finds a mix of laboratories, meeting rooms, lounges and office areas with open seating. A focal point is an open stair made of black steel and white oak.
"One could imagine this intervention as heavy, reflecting the physical weight of such a monolithic material, yet the resulting assembly is surprisingly warm and light," the team said of the stair.
In addition to the mass timber, the material palette includes carpeting and wall coverings made of natural wool.
Labs are often inward-facing and have limited natural light, but in this building, the labs have large windows that "connect scientists to the woodland setting".
Other recent mass-timber projects in the US include a theatre by Mecanoo at the Jacob's Pillow performing arts campus in Massachusetts, and a headquarters building for a nonprofit in Cleveland, Ohio, designed by S9 Architecture.
The photography is by Timothy Downing of Design & Co.
Project credits:
Architecture and interiors: Sylvia Richards Practice for Architecture
Architecture team: Sylvia Richards (principal and project designer), Christopher Smith (project architect)
Structural engineers: WSP USA
HVAC: LN Consulting
Civil engineering: Singletree Engineering
Energy consultant: Energysmiths, Energy Balance
Timber frame consultant: Florian Back
Acoustics and vibration control: Acentech
Horticulture: Susan Howard
Construction management: ReArch
Mass timber structural system: Bensonwood
Production and supply of mass timber: Nordic Structures
Mechanical systems: ARC Mechanical
Electrical systems: MEI Electrical
Bridge, stair structures, steel panels: Milk Metals
Interior and exterior wood windows and doors: Duratherm
Interior and exterior woodworking: AP Timberline
Insulation and air sealing: Murphy's Cell-Tech
Client: Adimab
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