GLUCK+

Straight view of the back of a two-story wood siding and metal-clad building on a cloudy night.
Aerial view of Pivers Island with the Duke University Marine Lab at the island's end.
Corner of an angular two-story building with wood siding and metal cladding by the water.
Research laboratory with wood cabinetry and scientists at work.
Covered second-floor porch overlooking the water with glass railings.
Angled view of the porch and into the collisional commons from underneath the stairs.
Collisional commons with modern seating, overlooking two people sitting on wooden benches outside.
South corner of a two-story building with red and brown wood volumes, topped with a white-clad volume, overlooking the water.
South corner of the two-story building at night, surrounded by berms.
Straight view of the back of a two-story wood siding and metal-clad building on a cloudy night.

Duke University Marine Laboratory

A resilient & collaborative campus

Beaufort, NC

The Dr. Orrin H. Pilkey Research Laboratory is a state-of-the-art, LEED Gold marine science research building. Designed to the highest environmental and sustainable standards, it incorporates design solutions to address hurricane force winds, sea level rise, and storm surge concerns. The first floor revolves around a collaborative “Collisional Commons” surrounded by faculty offices, a PhD bullpen, teaching lab, video conference room and service spaces. The second floor is a laboratory loft that houses equipment-intensive research spaces and features an elevated deck with views of downtown Beaufort and the surrounding islands.

Institutional 12,480 sf Completed in 2014 Architect-Led Design Build

Stories

Collisional Commons

The “Collisional Commons” is a spatial node where ideas from the entire marine lab community collide informally, where debate and discussion happens outside of the lab.
Collisional Commons

Meeting budget without losing program

The program was 37% larger than the budget. Rather than reducing the building’s size or limiting its program we presented a comprehensive design that met all the client’s criteria.
Meeting budget without losing program

Design as teaching tool: sea level rise

According to Orrin Pilkey—one of the most respected marine geologists in the field, after whom the building is named—to address sea level rise is to avoid building on the coast. This is not possible for an island campus.
Design as teaching tool: sea level rise

Press & Recognition

“a remarkable building that has already become the heart of the island […] The architect-led design build team earned our trust from the very beginning because they listened and responded to our dreams for this building, our programmatic needs, and budgetary constraints in which we needed to work […] the team delivered a very sophisticated science building for a remote field campus.”

—Cindy Lee Van Dover, Former Director, Duke University Marine Laboratory

2016

Design Award of Merit

Society of American Registered Architects New York

Photographs

Aerial view of Pivers Island with the Duke University Marine Lab at the island's end.
Aerial view of Pivers Island with the proposed marine lab massing placed on site.
Aerial view of Pivers Island and surrounding islands, as seen from Beaufort.
Straight view of the back of a two-story wood siding and metal-clad building on a cloudy night.
Corner of an angular two-story building with wood siding and metal cladding by the water.
South corner of a two-story building with red and brown wood volumes, topped with a white-clad volume, overlooking the water.
South corner of the two-story building with wood siding on the bottom and white metal cladding on top.
Close-up of the south corner of the two-story building during the aurora borealis.
South corner of the two-story building at night, surrounded by berms.
South corner of the two story building during the day, surrounded by berms.
Woman walking on the pathway leading to the entrance of the two-story building.
Straight view of the back of a two-story wood siding and metal-clad building during the day.
Straight view of the entry to the two-story building, surrounded by berms and trees.
South corner highlighting the orange and red wood siding with white aluminum cladding on top.
East corner of two story building highlighting the top metal clad volume with rectangular windows.
Entry to the two-story building, highlighting the paved pathway and surrounding grass.
East deck facing the water, with white picket chairs in front of the glazing.
Covered second-floor porch overlooking the water with glass railings.
Collisional commons filled with people sitting in a circle of couches, talking.
Collisional commons with modern seating, overlooking two people sitting on wooden benches outside.
Collisional commons furnished with seating, looking towards the staircase.
Straight view of the water from the collisional commons, with people using the space.
Looking down at the blue stairs from the second floor.
View into the covered second-floor porch from the top of the stairs.
Angled view of the porch and into the collisional commons from underneath the stairs.
Research laboratory with wood cabinetry and scientists at work.
Female scientist waiting for test results in the lab support room.
Walkway connecting the workstations in the research laboratory, with scientists at work.
Looking down the walkway of a fully stocked research laboratory, with a woman standing at her workstation.
Teaching lab furnished with a whiteboard and black countertop desks.
A man in casual wear working in the second-floor commons space.
Red and blue pipes in the mechanical room.
Two people laughing while one prepares samples for testing, with a view of the water behind them.

Drawings

Diagram showing the existing zoning of Pikey Island and the views the new laboratory aims to capture.
First floor plan of Duke University Marine Laboratory.
Second floor plan of Duke University Marine Laboratory.
North to south section of Duke University Marine Laboratory.
East to west section of Duke University Marine Laboratory.
Program diagram of the first floor, highlighting the views from each covered porch.
Program diagram of second floor highlighting the views out from the covered porch and collisional commons.
Diagram of the sun path and prevailing winds on the building, with wind rose diagrams for each season at the bottom.
Section diagram showing the building's programming adjacent to projected sea levels, with small diagrams depicting environmental conditions considered in the design: sun, wind, hurricanes, flood, and storm surge.
Sectional perspective of the laboratory with labels for all design decisions that earned LEED certification, including thermal comfort, corrosion resistance, heat island effect reduction, energy efficiency, sensitive siting, sea level rise resistance, stormwater control, water efficiency, hurricane resistance, daylight and views, solar control, and building materials.
Type
Institutional
Size
12,480 sf
Year
2014
Scope
Ground Up
Role
Architect-Led Design Build
LocationLoc.
Suburban
 
135 Duke Marine Lab Road, Beaufort, NC 28516
Duke University Marine Laboratory
Duke University Marine Laboratory