This new research laboratory complex at the Rockefeller University, a biomedical institute in New York City, inserts a new, glass “bridge” building between two renovated, historic labs. Lighting design was crucial both to meet the exacting technical standards demanded for the laboratory spaces, and within the bridge structure, as its glazed walls allowed clear views to the interior from outside.

The lighting of the bridge’s architecturally complex, seven-story atrium was thoughtfully designed to enhance teamwork among scientists, to be warm and welcoming rather than coldly institutional, and to facilitate way-finding within the building’s intricate hierarchy of interior spaces.