University of California San Diego - Structural and Material Engineering Building

Sited between the art and engineering quads on the UCSD campus, the Structural and Materials Engineering Building houses multiple disciples in a single facility to promote cross disciplinary encounters and casual collaboration. The building contains laboratories for the Institute of Engineering in Medicine, and spaces for the Department of Visual Arts, that include arts studios, computer labs, and a gallery that also functions as a black box presentation space.

The building is organized around a common exterior atrium like space that provides access to the laboratory wing as well as the stacked office and meeting room block. This exterior space was design to facilitate chance encounters between disciplines as well as accommodate formal events. A large structural steel canopy provides limited protection.

The exterior expression includes cast in place concrete, exposed structure steel, aluminum curtainwall, stucco, sunshade devices used standard steel shapes, and exterior motorized blinds that effectively control solar heat gain and glare.