To support the growth of George Mason University’s Science and Technology campus, the Life Sciences and Engineering Building establishes technical instructional labs, classrooms, support spaces, and workspaces to serve an increasingly multidisciplinary curriculum focused on science, technology, engineering, and health.

The building program consists primarily of highly specialized spaces for instruction that will be used by various disciplines and Colleges/Schools of the University. The space program is organized around typologies, rather than departments, to reflect the multidisciplinary nature of the many programs and uses anticipated to operate in the building. Typologies include Instructional Dry and Wet Labs, Human Performance, Student Design, and University Classrooms. The composition of the program, and subsequent layout of the building, reinforces the two main project objectives of providing attractive and inviting spaces that draw people inside, promote collaboration, and enhance learning experiences by providing innovative environments that entice and engage students and faculty.

While creating its own identity, the new building also activates the new exterior space by providing ample transparency to ground level engineering labs and opening the student design competition bays directly onto the campus circulation path.