IQHQ Research and Development District (RaDD)

Overview

Opportunity

Solution

Impact

Team

RaDD transforms a long-stalled waterfront site into a dynamic life sciences district, bringing workplace, public space, and the waterfront together in one connected experience.

Location

San Diego, California

Client

IQHQ

Expertise

Sciences Office Developers Brand Design [FPO] Climate Action [FPO] Sustainability [FPO] Mixed Use [FPO] Retail Centers

Opportunity

An overlooked waterfront site held the opportunity to reshape how people experience downtown San Diego and bring life sciences into the city.

For nearly 15 years, the eight-acre waterfront site remained underused, occupied by naval warehouses and parking. As life sciences and innovation districts continued to take shape largely in suburban settings, RaDD offered an opportunity to create a different model: a vibrant, sustainable district embedded in downtown San Diego. The challenge was to balance the needs of a high-performance research environment with the desire for public life, connection, and community, transforming a collection of buildings into a place where work, culture, and everyday city life could coexist.

Why This Matters

01
Extending the Waterfront
San Diego’s Embarcadero is one of the city’s defining public destinations. RaDD had an opportunity to extend that energy inland, strengthening connections between downtown and the waterfront.
02
Reimagining the Workplace
Research and development campuses have traditionally prioritized operational efficiency above all else. RaDD could challenge that model by putting people, wellness, and everyday experience at the center.
03
A New Life Sciences Model
As life sciences and innovation districts increasingly took shape in suburban settings, RaDD had an opportunity to bring this work into a vibrant, walkable urban environment.

FPO Quote

Solution

Gensler created an activated and welcoming urban district where workplace, public space, and the waterfront become one connected experience.

The district’s five buildings step down toward the harbor, creating a cohesive collection with distinct identities while respecting the city grid and east-west view corridors. At the center, a pedestrian paseo acts as a green spine, linking Progress Park to Ruocco Park and connecting retail, outdoor dining, art, and building entries. Terraces, balconies, and green spaces extend the workplace outdoors, while parks, restaurants, and gathering spaces encourage movement and interaction. Together, these elements blur the boundary between life science campus and city.

From brief to build, the team focused on strengthening the relationship between city, waterfront, workplace, and community through integrated design.

Designing at the district scale required balancing urban planning, workplace strategy, sustainability, mobility, and public experience as one integrated system. The team used the city grid, harbor views, and pedestrian connections to organize the district, while stepped massing creates a gradual transition toward the waterfront. A shared material palette and horizontal datums create continuity across five distinct buildings. Throughout the process, environmental performance and community experience evolved together rather than as separate objectives, shaping everything from the paseo and landscape to building systems, outdoor spaces, and tenant amenities.

Completing the Waterfront

Stepped buildings respond to the city grid and preserve east-west view corridors, creating a gradual transition toward the harbor.

Impact

RaDD transforms a long-underused waterfront site into a new downtown destination where life sciences, public space, culture, and everyday city life intersect.

The district strengthens connections between downtown and the harbor while creating a more welcoming workplace experience grounded in wellness, community, and environmental performance.

What Changed Because of This

01
Community Engagement
RaDD strengthens connections between downtown, the harbor, and the community with public art, retail, restaurants, green spaces, and a pedestrian paseo.
02
Workplace Wellbeing
More than 90,000 square feet of terraces and balconies support tenant wellness, collaboration, and flexibility, extending the workplace beyond the lab or office.
03
Environmental Performance
The LEED Gold campus’s all-electric infrastructure, embodied carbon analysis, dynamic glazing, solar generation, water strategies, and resilient landscaping demonstrate a new model for high-performance urban development.

What makes RaDD distinctive is how it brings innovation and discovery into the heart of the city, integrating life sciences with lifestyle: parks, retail, dining, and the everyday urban experience.

Team

Project Leadership

Alexander Fernandez

lex is a Principal in Gensler's Boston office who brings a human-centric passion for art and design to every project, pairing creative insight with thoughtful problem-solving to help clients realize exceptional results.

Keller Roughton

Keller is a Principal and Studio Director in Gensler's Boston office who leads the Northeast Education practice, drawing on expertise across research, workplace, academic, and student life environments to help clients translate ambitious visions into thoughtful, high-performing places that strengthen community and support learning and discovery.

[FPO] Al Soto

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Erik Lustgarten

Erik helps leading biotechnology and research organizations translate complex scientific requirements into high-performing environments that support discovery and accelerate innovation. Combining technical expertise with a strategic approach, he creates spaces that empower scientists, foster collaboration, and support organizational growth.

FAQ

01

What is RaDD?

RaDD, or the Research and Development District, is a life sciences and mixed-use district transforming eight acres along San Diego’s downtown waterfront.

02

Why was RaDD important to downtown San Diego?

RaDD transforms a long-underused waterfront site into a new urban destination, connecting life sciences with public space, retail, dining, culture, and the waterfront.

03

How does RaDD connect life sciences to the city?

Rather than creating an isolated research campus, RaDD integrates laboratories and workplaces with parks, retail, restaurants, public art, outdoor spaces, and a pedestrian paseo.

04

What is the paseo at RaDD?

The paseo is a pedestrian green spine that connects Progress Park to Ruocco Park while linking the district’s buildings, retail, dining, art, and public spaces.

05

How does RaDD support workplace wellbeing?

Terraces, balconies, green spaces, outdoor gathering areas, and retractable walls extend workplace environments outdoors, providing access to fresh air, daylight, views, and opportunities for connection.

06

What makes RaDD environmentally significant?

All five buildings achieve LEED Gold and incorporate strategies including all-electric systems, solar generation, dynamic glazing, reclaimed water, drought-tolerant planting, and embodied-carbon analysis.

Related Work

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222 Fifth

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Related Expertise

Sciences Office Developers Brand Design Climate Action Sustainability Mixed Use Retail Centers

RaDD transforms a long-stalled waterfront site into a dynamic life sciences district, bringing workplace, public space, and the waterfront together in one connected experience.

An overlooked waterfront site held the opportunity to reshape how people experience downtown San Diego and bring life sciences into the city.

Why This Matters

Gensler created an activated and welcoming urban district where workplace, public space, and the waterfront become one connected experience.

From brief to build, the team focused on strengthening the relationship between city, waterfront, workplace, and community through integrated design.

RaDD transforms a long-underused waterfront site into a new downtown destination where life sciences, public space, culture, and everyday city life intersect.

What Changed Because of This