University of Denver Integrative Life Sciences Center

The University of Denver is building a science home that puts undergraduates in real labs from day one. The $112 million Integrative Life Sciences Center, a five-story, 73,000-square-foot building now under construction, stacks three undergraduate teaching laboratories on the ground floor beneath four stories of flexible research space. It opens in 2027.

Project Scope

Holder Construction’s Colorado office is the construction manager and general contractor, working from a design by Denver-based Anderson Mason Dale Architects. The program is built around visibility: teaching labs at grade, research above, and a layout meant to pull undergrads into the research culture instead of walling it off. Flexible lab planning lets the building adapt as departments and grants shift, the kind of future-proofing that has become standard in academic science space.

Why It Matters

Universities are competing hard for science students, and the lab building is the recruiting tool. Denver’s bet is that showing undergraduates a working research floor, not a lecture hall, is what converts interest into majors and, eventually, graduate researchers. The design demystifies the research experience by design. For a mid-size private university, a purpose-built life sciences center is also a statement of where it wants to compete over the next decade.

Project Team & Details