Already renowned for its programs in the science of beer and wine, UC Davis can add another taste-full pursuit: coffee. Perkins Eastman helped the university’s College of Engineering transform a former hydrogen fuel cell lab into the UC Davis Coffee Center, the first university center in the country dedicated to the scientific study of coffee. The design team embraced a tight budget by re-envisioning the existing lab structure as an “edgy, warehouse art gallery, tearing out dropped-tile ceilings but leaving the space’s industrial character intact,” according to a profile on the center by the local Sactown magazine.

The building is nestled into a verdant section of campus, across Putah Creek from the UC Davis Arboretum and a short walk from the Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science. Glass garage doors offer broad views across a landscape of gardens and accessible outdoor gathering areas. The interior is designed to support pre- and post-harvest coffee research. It includes space for experimental green bean storage; a roastery; a tasting room; office and conference facilities; and laboratories for brewing, sensory and cupping experiments, and chemistry and analysis.