A New Haven community hospital, known for its commitment to research and teaching, recently completed its new Park Street Clinical Lab building. The 150,000-sq.-ft. expansion and atrium inclusion connects the hospital's existing New Haven Cancer Center and two-story Air Rights Parking Garage. The two structures previously had been divided by the incomplete Route 34 highway.

“As the first building in a master plan to change this complex area of New Haven, the Park Street Clinical Laboratory Building unites disparate elements of the health campus, creating a street presence with color and activity and an interior as a respite for those traversing from the parking garage to the cancer center,” says partner at Behnisch Architekten and project architect Christof Jantzen, AIA, LEED AP.

The five-story Park Street Clinical Laboratory features a glass mosaic facade, which gained it the moniker of the “Kaleidescope Building,” and utilizes a steel-framed curtain-wall system of insulated panels. Each piece of glass varies in shade, color, and opacity to enliven the exterior view. Inside, the lab centers around a tiered garden atrium, filled with living plants and trees, and wide staircase landings that promote a healthy environment and communication among patients and staff.

Behnisch Architekten expects that sustainable elements—including daylighting and reclaimed wood—will earn the building at least a Silver LEED certification, if not Gold.