Situated within the central science core of the University of Washington's Seattle campus, the $59-million, 90,000-sq-ft first phase of the master-planned Molecular Engineering & Sciences Building was designed to create a multidisciplinary research setting and strengthen existing science programs.
To fit the facility on the site, historic Cunningham Hall—built in 1909 as part of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition—had to be relocated. Within this footprint, the design took advantage of the topography to provide ground-level and below-grade instrumentation labs.