One Milestone Life Science Campus | Studio Gang + Henning Larsen

One Milestone Life Science Campus

About One Milestone West
The design of the 245,000 sf One Milestone West features a transparent façade and carved form that helps to foster connections between the indoors and the outdoors. Comprised of long bands of solid zones interspersed with glazing—whose horizontality sets up a dynamic contrast with the vertically articulated design of One Milestone East—the strata-like façade brings natural light inside the building. As light moves along it, the façade’s panels shift subtly in color, establishing a dynamic presence on the campus. At the ground level, the building subtly steps back to create sheltered areas for dining and socializing, activating the building’s edges and Allston way. The upper floors are dedicated to flexible laboratories and workspaces that support a range of activities, from quiet areas for focused research to common areas for meeting and discussion. Carving is kept to a minimum on the south side to maintain optimal depth for lab use, while on the north, the stepped form creates outdoor terraces that offer access to fresh air and expansive views.

“It has been a fascinating and rewarding process to create the design vision for the Enterprise Research Campus with Henning Larsen, and to bring the district to life through the architecture of One Milestone and the David Rubenstein Treehouse at Harvard University,” said Weston Walker, Design Principal and Partner at Studio Gang.

“The design of One Milestone West is carefully sculpted in response to the program and its context. Users will enjoy flexible workspaces, generous terraces, and panoramic views. Neighbors will enjoy the building’s dynamic form, calibrated to enhance sunlight along Allston way and to create a welcoming gesture along Trotting Avenue.”

The building’s design demonstrates that laboratories can not only be welcoming and engaging workspaces but also integral to the development of a more sustainable civic realm. One Milestone West’s façade is carefully tuned to balance thermal performance year-round, while large areas are opaque to make the building more detectable to birds and reduce potential collisions. Its carved form allows sunlight to reach the public green spaces below, where bio-swales and retention tanks are integrated throughout the revitalized landscape. The use of low carbon concrete, insulation, and steel reduce One Milestone West’s embodied carbon, and nearly half the materials used are Red List Free-compliant.

“One Milestone required an unusually integrated approach, balancing advanced laboratory requirements, complex technical coordination, and measurable performance outcomes across two distinct buildings,” said Amy Korte, President of Arrow street. “By establishing performance priorities early and carrying them through design and construction, the project was able to advance carbon reduction, resilience, wellness, and healthy materials strategies in a deeply integrated way,” said Kate Bubriski, Director of Building Performance at Arrow street. “The result is a life science environment that supports rigorous research while strengthening the everyday human connection to daylight, landscape, and place.”