One Discovery Square at Destination Medical Center

One Discovery Square is a new biomedical sciences building and catalyst for a planned live-work-play district in downtown Rochester. It is the first of several new buildings that will make up the 16-block, $5.6-billion Destination Medical Center (DMC) Discovery Square subdistrict near the famed Mayo Clinic campus.

The design team sought to create an extension of Mayo Clinic’s highly collaborative culture in a building that includes offices, wet and dry labs, classrooms and tech-based space.

As the anchor tenant occupying three floors of the building, the Mayo Clinic creates new opportunities for collaboration between bioscience researchers and experts. The complementary mix of tenants includes medical device manufacturer Boston Scientific, medical software company Epic, digital healthcare firm Philips Imaging and students from the University of Minnesota Rochester.

The design provides an open, flexible environment to help teams accelerate the translation of promising health-related therapies and technologies. Glass-walled conference rooms and labs put teamwork and science on display.

Ground-level public amenities—including a double-height open lobby with a staircase and comfortable seating, café, event space, local artwork and outdoor entry courtyard—create a sustained sense of community. Tenants have easy access to retail, restaurants and hotels, as well as to the world-renowned expertise of the Mayo Clinic.

Mortenson was the developer and builder. HOK was the design architect and lead lab planner, with RSP Architects serving as executive architect.