Research is often imagined as a solitary undertaking — a lone scientist toiling away in a lab, or a scholar buried deep in the archives. But in practice, especially in the sciences, research is a highly collaborative pursuit, dependent on teamwork, shared infrastructure and institutional networks. It’s a common misconception, but it makes sense when you consider that scientific discovery typically happens behind closed doors, in controlled environments that most students or visitors never enter. Increasingly, however, institutions want this knowledge to be more visible and accessible to the public. The challenge, then, is to maintain the conditions that scientific work requires while creating new points of connection to broader campus life. For , this was the modus operandi for recent projects at two Ontario universities.
At the University of Guelph, a new building devoted to one of nature’s most social and collaborative organisms offers an apt setting for a research centre that is itself organized around connection. Opened this past June, the Honey Bee Research Centre — a 1,300-square-metre facility located off-campus, adjacent to the Guelph Arboretum — houses apicultural research and commercial honey production under one roof. Given the site’s former role as a tree nursery, took care to preserve significant trees and reduce excavation; a similarly light touch grounded the approach to the landscape design, using the surrounding forest to inform a selection of species that would support local wildlife, such as the pollinator plants that line the front walkway and entrance.
The natural setting also informed the architecture: Folded metal cladding was selected to evoke the verticality of the trees, while the north façade features a vine system that will eventually flourish into a “living wall.” Past the dramatically angular entrance canopy, whose soffit is clad in wood, the light-filled atrium makes for a welcoming setting for visitors to the complex.
Given the importance of pollinators to food security — and the many threats to the honey bee population as a result of climate change, habitat destruction and pollution — public education was equally important to the building program. To that end, its circulation is devised so visitors on guided tours can watch honey extraction and processing without disrupting the work. The architects collaborated with researchers, admin staff and commercial beekeepers to understand their processes, allowing public access without sacrificing operational efficiency.
The Discovery Centre — which connects to a demonstration apiary that offers direct access to living bees — features exhibition and teaching spaces that can host workshops, talks and other events. “By making these issues and processes visible,” the architects explain in the project press release, “the public can become inspired to learn more about how a small but essential organism contributes to a much larger system.”
Completed two years prior, the McMaster University Life Sciences Building and Greenhouse is another example of a project that marries research spaces with public engagement. Here, Moriyama Teshima has wrapped a 1060-square-metre greenhouse around the western and southern facades of the existing five-storey Life Sciences Building, creating a striking new entrance that celebrates science and nature. When the sawtooth form is illuminated at night, the addition becomes a kind of beacon, giving the building a completely new architectural identity.
The project employs many of the same moves as the Honey Bee Research Centre. The circulation strategy, for instance, is equally vital to the public’s understanding of what happens inside. Entering the Life Sciences Building now means crossing a suspended bridge that overlooks the two-storey greenhouse below — a series of wet rainforest and dry savannah environments that host over 200 plant species. Elsewhere, specialized research cells and support spaces, also glazed to allow for observation, provide controlled environments for research into plant genomics, microbes, soil health and other natural systems. Rather than requiring access via a designated tour, students will come into contact with the research simply by moving through the building.
Part of a multi-year renewal of the existing building — which also introduces McMaster’s first geothermal heating and cooling system — the project improves accessibility and brings more natural light into the interior while adding new spaces for gathering and collaboration. The lobby becomes a key social hub, accommodating study, informal meetings, and events within a light-filled mass-timber structure that feels almost like an extension of the greenhouse itself. From here, views into the planted research spaces ensure the living systems being studied are always in sight. At both Guelph and McMaster, Moriyama Teshima has made scientific discovery a part of everyday campus life, rather than something confined to a lab.
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