The first center to integrate the research and treatment of neurology and psychiatry at UCSF, the Weill Neurosciences Building challenges the traditional boundaries of these disciplines through a program that fuels connectivity and collaboration.
From the outset of the project, the integrated project team drew inspiration from the incredible scientific research and innovative patient treatments that the scientists and doctors are doing already and that this building will support. The team understood that this will be a building of hope for many, and it should express its potential as a catalyst for progress.
Architecturally the building is conceived as a pair of programmatically driven wings, united around a public atrium which includes the public and social spaces. Wrapped with an architectural screen expressive of the precise science within, the four-story research volume is lifted above a transparent two-story clinical volume wherein natural materials seek to create a warm, serene space conducive to care. This clear and concise massing is enlivened through powerful articulation of the forms that are informed by the campus to create a dynamic and welcoming environment.
Bio Mark Cavagnero Associates is a San Francisco-based architecture firm built on a foundation of serving civic, cultural and institutional clients. We approach each project with a focus on the immediate and greater community it will serve. The firm has completed a wide range of architectural and master planning projects based on this ideal, including large and small scale institutional, non-profit, and commercial projects. The firm provides a full range of services, from programming, master planning, site planning and conceptual design, through construction documents and administration.
Other prizes In addition to being well-received by users and the community, our work has garnered more than 100 design awards from local, state, national and international organizations. Mark Cavagnero Associates Architects was honored with the AIA California Council’s 2012 Firm of the Year Award, the highest honor that the organization bestows upon a firm, recognizing distinguished architecture and a culture of mentoring the next generation of architects. The firm ranks in Architect magazine’s 2015 The Architect 50, the ranking of the top 50 architectural firms in the country. Mark Cavagnero was personally honored with the AIA California Council’s 2015 Maybeck Award, a lifetime achievement award often referred to as the “Gold Medal of California.” In every project we design we strive for logic, strength, functional excellence, clarity, sustainability, economical use of materials, and, of course, beauty. Ultimately, the challenge of our work is to build something that authentically represents our core values and innate beliefs: fairness, stability, strength, and openness.
