In late 2021/early 2022, O’Brien Atkins was retained by Durham Tech to conceptualize a life sciences building for their main campus. Collaborating with industry partners and the NC Biotechnology Center, the team worked to define the program requirements for an education building whose primary purpose will be employee training for the life sciences industry.

O’Brien Atkins also helped plan for this building as part of the Main Campus Master Plan in a separate project that was completed in 2022. The Master Plan demonstrated how the proposed Life Sciences Building could contribute to the existing Main Campus fabric and become part of the link that ties the northern and southern parts of the campus together while also transforming Lawson Street, the major campus thoroughfare, into a campus friendly street where student pedestrians, bike riders, and car traffic travel together harmoniously.