Our involvement with SkolTech continues as we assist the institute in developing research fit-outs tailored to align with their current research and academic needs. The construction of laboratory fitouts is scheduled to start shortly after the completion of the core and shell construction. As the complex is getting close to being fully enclosed, with installation of MEP infrastructure underway in many areas, construction of laboratories will soon begin.
The laboratories have been conceived to be environments for cutting edge innovation and collaboration. Occupying “bar” buildings and developed to accommodate departmental units called CREIs (Center for Research Entrepreneurship and Innovation), the lab components are designed to create a cohesive whole in an otherwise diverse number of research typologies.
The architecture reflects SkolTech’s interdisciplinary ideals by maximizing visibility, creating transparency and providing a showcase for groundbreaking research. The floor plate of the bars, their width and floor to ceiling heights, have a built in diversity to accommodate specific CREI needs. Skylights allow for increased daylight. Building cores are arranged to provide access to institutional amenities and shared facilities for research.
While the overall collection of architectural forms is cohesive, the interplay between bar and ring creates distinctive spaces that highlight the science, the institutes progressive ideals and technologically advanced nature of the work taking place at Skoltech.
The 2025 OpenLAB Boston studio work will be exhibited at Virginia Tech Monday, March 2nd through Wednesday, March 4th.
Please join us for the following events on Monday, March 2nd:
11:00am - Lecture with Parke MacDowell
1:00pm Lobby talk with Kevin Sullivan
This year’s studio identifies seven sites along the frayed edges of Boston’s Greenway. The Greenway is a one-mile-long linear park running through the heart of the city, reconnecting downtown Boston with its waterfront. Many of the parcels along its edges remain undeveloped and present mute, blank facades to the public realm. Addressing and repairing these edges through acts of infilling, layering, grafting, framing, and placemaking is the core focus of the studio—SUTURE.