NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is an agency of the US federal government, responsible for aeronautics and aerospace research, and the country’s space program. The Glenn Research Center is named after Ohio native John H. Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. The RSB is part of the center’s Facility Master Plan, a multiyear effort to revitalize the central campus and renovate or replace WWII-era buildings. The birthplace of a wealth of now commonplace innovations, the facility consists of a constellation of buildings, which, despite their semicircular distribution, lacked a central focus. Thus, tasked with creating much-needed office and collaborative space, TEN Arquitectos/ASA opted to create a nexus: a building with amenities and opportunities to engage the entire campus population, serving as both anchor and core.
“If we create architecture that neglects its context and does nothing to activate its surroundings, then we have not actually created architecture at all. We’ve merely created a building.” says Enrique Norten, Founder of TEN Arquitectos. Raising on the main artery of Lewis Field—the center’s primary campus, and a recently minted historic district—the two-story, 60,000SF Research Support Building provides a new and contemporary public face for the home of the country’s most prolific aeronautic and aerospace innovations, creating space for research and collaborative working. This cantilevered structure extends into the main artery of the campus, Taylor Road, creating a large, covered plaza that leads to the main entrance of the building.
NASA is a ‘culture of functionalism’. This building works within the vocabulary of the research infrastructure, like the domes, gravity drops and pipes that weave throughout the campus. Our hope is this building acts as a platform for this community, connecting them to each other, to resources, to their past achievements and future opportunities”, Andrea Steele explains.