A Village for Science

While the campus – which has hosted influential scientific symposia since 1933 – has grown steadily, it retains an intimate village feel, with open spaces, quiet lanes and pathways, and flora and fauna. Set in an affluent residential town, the campus is nestled into a hillside overlooking the water as if it was meant to be there all the time. It doesn't resemble a collection of laboratories and support buildings. It looks like it a great place to live – or work.

Centerbrook has designed more than 50 award winning projects at Cold Spring Harbor, ranging from research laboratories, to offices, housing, dining facilities, auditoriums, classrooms, libraries, a campus center, poster pavilion, and a day care center. We’ve also conceived innovative learning environments for its DNA Learning Center, which provides genetics education worldwide to students in grades 5-12.

We are working on the next phase of growth to further extend the campus’s defining elements:

New Buildings That Don’t Look New

While distinct from one another and the buildings that came before, they are not pridefully different and afford a sense of continuity with the 120-year-old campus. There’s a recognition that science changes much faster than buildings and that it’s better to build flexible spaces that can be adapted, while letting the outside character be part of the surrounding community.

Clusters and Niches

Buildings are sited into the landscape to save open space and to create interesting courtyards, walkways and other welcoming niches in between that can be as important in their own right as the labs themselves. Nothing stands alone. These outdoor spaces are carefully programmed and designed as if they are connected rooms.

Bonds With Nature

Building design, scale, and orientation establishes strong bonds with the natural world. They are in keeping with the nearby village, a well-preserved 19th century whaling port, thus large buildings were painstakingly designed to fit comfortably within their residential surroundings.

Hidden Infrastructure

The mechanical side of science is carefully concealed. Research facilities require significant utilities and mechanical systems, which are tucked away in appropriately-designed chimneys, adjacent buildings, or below grade to maintain the village aesthetic.

Leafy Venues and Narrow Streets

Grand lobbies and atriums do not exist on campus – the outdoor spaces fill that role. A variety of outdoor spaces afford leafy venues for scientists to range freely and to recharge. Narrow streets are used mainly by pedestrians, with parking lots scattered strategically on the periphery in well-treed locations.