Pacira Biosciences, Inc. is a leading provider of non-opioid pain management and regenerative health solutions dedicated to advancing and improving outcomes for health care practitioners and their patients. The company relocated its R&D and pilot-scale manufacturing functions to an existing building at 10410 Science Center Drive. Having designed the original shell and several renovations over the last two decades, FPBA partnered with Pacira to provide a multi-phased, full-building tenant improvement. Beginning with programming and conceptual design, FPBA coordinated with various user groups for input on desired capacity and features for each function. Spaces include a formulation lab; medical device assembly lab; ISO 7/8 cleanrooms; warehouse; office space; and a 6,000-square-foot town hall space with a break room, smart market, and two large meeting rooms that can be divided by an operable wall. A subdued color palette of grays and slate teal offer a neutral, calming work environment. Minimalist accents and modern finishes complete the aesthetic. Ultimately, the revitalized building provides a bustling R&D and manufacturing hub that will accommodate Pacira’s growth for years to come.
Significant exterior and interior upgrades were designed by FPBA to BioMed Realty Trust’s facility at Road to the Cure, a 1980s vintage building located in La Jolla, California. The 68,000-square-foot building was completely renovated to include four upgraded laboratory spaces that take maximum advantage of both natural light and the landscaped views outdoors. Reconfigured laboratory suites respond to a variety of tenant needs to allow for maximum flexibility as end-user requirements evolve. The new conference center with contemporary audio visual capabilities is expandable to the exterior where outside meeting and gathering areas are carefully integrated with new landscape and site enhancements. The building’s exterior areas were designed as direct extensions of the interior upgrades, with new canopies visually expanding from the base building. The new technology-based fitness center provides tenants a welcome opportunity to enjoy physical activities away from their desk at any time during the day.
This campus houses one of the most advanced facilities of its type in the world, setting new standards not only for biotech process design and automation but also in project execution and delivery. Since its completion, this 90,000-liter-capacity facility has produced significant cancer and arthritis therapies for the U.S. and the world. While all mammalian process-based, the facility has thrived in its ability to campaign manufacture the blockbuster drugs Rituxan (first ever FDA-approved biotech therapy for cancer), Avastin and Actemra. FPBA created an inspiring, worker-friendly campus with flexibility for unknown growth. The team also master planned an expandable campus (up to 1.2 million square feet) supported by a central utility “spine” to which future buildings could be readily connected. The result of this project is a large-scale, integrated biotech manufacturing campus that was master planned in a design-build collaborative effort with the client, contractors and many engineering disciplines to handle the profound special needs of its client and the biopharmaceutical industry.
