Caltech Plans Resnick Sustainability Resource Center

Caltech is planning to break ground in April of 2022 on the $100 million Resnick Sustainability Resource Center in Pasadena. Designed by the Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign, the 80,000-sf interdisciplinary facility will provide sophisticated laboratory environments for research programs in climate science, ecology, biosphere engineering, energy, biofuels, decomposable plastics, solar science, and water and environmental resources. The three-story building will also include teaching labs, classrooms, lecture halls, and interactive learning venues. Framed by a mass timber grid shell, the project will incorporate a glass façade with low-E glazing and integrated shading fins, enabling natural light to penetrate all the way to the basement level through the atrium. The center will feature low-VOC interior finishes, highly efficient building systems, and innovative technologies for water conservation and recycling. The structure's carbon footprint will be further reduced by the use of building materials with low embodied carbon and the planting of 50 trees for carbon sequestration. Occupancy is expected in March of 2024.