Genomics In the Landscape

With its complex program and commanding design, the University of Pittsburgh’s Biomedical Science Tower III is a kind of monument to the sciences that happen within it, among which are vaccine discovery, drug development, neuroscience, and computational, developmental, and structural biology. The landscape of BST3 pays homage to those research activities with a unique sculpture that greets visitors at the entrance.

Similar to its interior color strategy, the entrance to the building features a waterwall sculpture made of LED-illuminated stainless steel cylinders whose visual design is based on the first fourteen genes of a research mouse’s DNA. This small nod to genomics is abstract enough to appear as art to the average bystander, but those in the know will recognize the playfulness with which the waterwall uses color to express different gene groups and orders.