Mission Bay Biotech Hub
A startup biotech firm in Mission Bay needed to secure Series B funding to build out their new headquarters. The space needed to function as both a high-tech laboratory and a collaborative office environment. The client had a raw shell lease and a tight timeline. The problem? They were touring investors through a cold, concrete warehouse. It is hard to convince a VC to write a $20M check when you are standing in a dark room that smells like damp cement. They needed to look like a unicorn startup before they had the cash to build it.
We designed a biophilic lab space that looked more like a boutique hotel than a research facility. The trend in 2024 is not sterile white lab; it is transparency. Using the shell drawings provided by the landlord, we modeled glass walls between the high-containment labs and the coffee bar, allowing investors to visualize the science happening while they drank their latte. We injected digital greenery, vertical gardens and living walls, into the render to soften the clinical edge. The pitch deck, heavily anchored by our 3D walkthroughs, helped them secure $35M in funding. One investor explicitly mentioned that the visualization of the collaborative zones convinced them the team culture would scale.
Client Name
BioNova Labs
Client Type
Commercial / Biotech Startup
Location
Mission Bay, San Francisco
Project focus
Investor presentation and space planning
Color Palette
Clinical White, Electric Blue, Living Green, Charcoal
Services Provided
3D Rendering, Interior Visualization
Budget
$15,000
Duration
4 Weeks
Thoughtfully designed spaces for life
Strategic Design Interventions
We use 3D simulation to bridge the gap between blueprint and reality.
1
Visualizing Transparency
The old school way to build labs is to hide them in the basement. We rendered a central Science Core wrapped in glass. The psychological trigger here is trust: If investors can see the work in the render, they trust the company.
Softening the Science
Labs feel sterile. Humans hate sterile. We rendered extensive indoor plant life to show that the space prioritized employee well-being. It sounds trivial, but it signals to investors that this company will be able to retain top talent.
2
3
Speed-Running the Design
The founders disagreed on the layout. Instead of arguing for weeks, we live-edited the 3D model during a Zoom call. We moved walls, swapped materials, and finalized the floor plan in 2 hours. That is the power of real-time rendering.
