San Diego, California, USA

Designed by HOK, the Bioterra Life Sciences Building is a new development in the Sorrento Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, at the center of the city’s biotech and technology community, commissioned by Longfellow Real Estate Partners, a leader company in developing environmentally and socially responsible projects.

Bioterra is San Diego’s first life sciences building with an all-electric HVAC system. The team is designing it to meet LEED Gold and Fitwel certification criteria.

The project has been awarded an Honorable Mention at the 2023 American Architecture Awards from The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

The extended floor plates allow for ample natural light on all five floors.

HOK’s design extends the research space to the outdoors by including large terraces for outdoor meetings and individual moments of respite.

The building includes a ground-floor lobby with a coffee bar and collaboration space.

A café, fitness center, and conference center are on the top floor.

A rooftop patio overlooking Sorrento Mesa offers specially curated food and beverage options.

Bioterra is conveniently located near major highways, universities and research institutes, including UC San Diego, the Salk Institute, the Scripps Research Institute and several world-renowned medical centers.

This is Longfellow’s first life sciences project built from the ground up in the San Diego area.

HOK is providing planning; architecture; laboratory programming, planning and design; interior design; landscape architecture; and sustainable design services.

Project: Bioterra
Architects: Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum (HOK)
General Contractor: McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.
Client: Longfellow
Photographs: Courtesy of Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum (HOK)