Ray and Dagmar Dolby Regeneration Medicine Building (UCSF)
Rafael Viñoly

Photo: © Bruce Damonte/Courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects

A beautifully sinuous, serpentine building that makes use of every foot of available space.

The Dolby Regeneration Medicine Building is designed to foster intensive collaboration and a cross-pollination of ideas among scientists representing a broad spectrum of labs and disciplines. Located on a steeply sloping urban hillside, the building presented the design team a unique challenge: executing a horizontal structure on an uneven site.

The main floor functions as one continuous laboratory divided into four split levels, each stepping down a half-story as the building descends the forested hillside slope, and each level is topped by an office cluster and a grass roof with wildflowers and plants. Exterior ramps and stairs, taking advantage of the temperate climate, provide continuous circulation between all levels, and the facility connects to three nearby research buildings and UCSF Medical Center via a pedestrian bridge.


Photo: © Bruce Damonte/Courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects

Photo: © Bruce Damonte/Courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects

Photo: © Bruce Damonte/Courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects

The building structure, clad in corrugated steel, is supported by steel space trusses springing from concrete piers, minimizing site excavation and incorporating seismic base isolation to absorb earthquake forces.


Photo: © Bruce Damonte/Courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects

Photo: © Bruce Damonte/Courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects

Inside the building, the transitions between the split levels are designed as hubs of activity. Break rooms and stairs located at these interfaces increase the potential for chance interaction, a goal for promoting a cross-pollination of ideas among the scientists, and interior glazing maximizes visual connectivity between the lower labs and the upper offices.


Photo: © Bruce Damonte/Courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects

Photo: © Bruce Damonte/Courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects

To further promote collaboration, the laboratories occupy a horizontal open-floor plan, with a flexible, custom-designed casework system that enables the rapid reconfiguration of the research program. Abundant south-facing glazing fills the open laboratories and offices with natural light and views of the wooded slope of Mount Sutro nearby.


Photo: © Bruce Damonte/Courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects

Green roof terraces impart environmental benefits and an outdoor amenity for building occupants and campus community. Visible from surrounding campus buildings' upper floors, the terraces create a welcoming transitional space where the dense campus meets the forest.


Photo: © Bruce Damonte/Courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects

The Center encompasses 125 labs made up of scientists exploring the earliest stages of animal and human development. The goal of these studies is to understand how disorders and diseases develop and how they could be treated based on the knowledge of, and use of, stem cells and other early-stage cells.

The Institute's mission is to translate basic research findings to clinical research and on to patient care. Scientists in the Institute will work closely with clinical researchers at UCSF Medical Center, located nearby, to translate discoveries into therapeutic strategies.


Drawing courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects
Site Plan

Drawing courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects
Typical Floor Plan

Drawing courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects
Roof Plan

Drawing courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects
Longitudinal Section


Drawing courtesy Rafael Viñoly Architects
Cross Section