rmjm

With its textured glass facades and landscaped gardens, the Rohm and Haas China Research and Development Center in Shanghai appears more like a museum than the high-tech laboratory facility that it is.

The design aims convey the strength and staying power associated with the company's brand and to create opportunities for collaborative moments between researchers from different disciplines - a move expected to help speed the process of innovation.

Sited around a "C"-shaped courtyard, the 270,000 square-foot centre is composed of two interlocking buildings – a four-storey administrative building and a four-storey research building - linked by an atrium. Public and non-public areas intentionally intersect in an open plan while preserving the security of research that happens in the laboratories.

The end result is a state-of-the-art research environment that views people – their opportunities for collaboration, access to natural sunlight, and contributions to the firm's culture and history – as an important part of the research equation and a key concept for developing a comprehensive, modern research facility in Asia.