Located in San Carlos, California on a site of approximately eight acres are two ground-up constructed buildings forming the Alexandria District for Science and Technology. The campus is conceived to act as a catalyst for the economic invigoration in the City of San Carlos, specifically within the San Carlos East Side Innovation District. Located near the San Carlos Caltrain Station, the project promotes non-vehicular commuting methods and provides leasable workspace as well as ample landscape amenity spaces with a wide range of size and programmatic uses. 

The project is in immediate proximity to historic cultural corridors and the San Francisco Bay. As a former light industrial site, the location, history, and future ambition shaped the design seamlessly marrying program, formal arrangement, and material connections. The upper levels of the two buildings contain research labs while the ground levels provide expansive connections to the exterior, blending the user experience of indoor and outdoor space with open food & beverage, conferencing, and heath & wellness areas.

Guests and tenants filter in through arrival plazas to the south and east sides of the project. In the central courtyard an outdoor bar complements lounge seating areas and a multitude of garden terraces that intermix playful activities, art, and planting beds. The parking garage and layered terraces provide a captivating backdrop and direct connections to the courtyard space via multiple-level pedestrian connections for an immersive arrival experience. Brick, steel, concrete, stone, wood, and vegetation offer a unique material vocabulary that references the site’s industrial past and contextual landscape. Stormwater runoff from the building roofs and impermeable pavement surfaces is directed to landscape treatment areas, filtering contaminants and reducing peak flow.

The project is an outcome of a collaboration of creative minds and constructive hands. With the vision and leadership of the project ownership to the multiple design and engineering participants to the construction managers and builders who bring such efforts to life, the Alexandria District for Science and Technology will foster enriching outcomes and memorable experiences.

Location: San Carlos, CA

Status: Alexandria Center for Life Sciences, Buildings 1 & 2, Completed Spring 2021

Project Type: Campus, Masterplan

Client: Alexandria Real Estate Equities

Collaborators: NBBJ, Architects; IwamotoScott, Architects; Arc Tec, Inc; TGP; BKF Engineers

Photography: Marion Brenner