Burroughs-Wellcome Building

Elion-Hitchings Building, GlaxoSmithKline Building
Demolished

Burroughs-Wellcome Building

Burroughs Wellcome Building, Research Triangle Park, NC, Paul Rudolph, 1969-72.

Credit

Columbia University, Avery Architecture and Fine Arts Library, Joseph W. Moliter Photograph Collection

Site overview

A dynamic and expressive design was created for this administrative headquarters. Rhythm and space are achieved through the use of strong external forms arranged in a contemporary "ziggurat fashion." Lighting within the interior spaces effectively adds to the building's design. The interaction of bold forms with the rolling hillside is intriguing as well as harmonious. The building is one of its kind in the nation. Adapted from A Field Guide to Landmarks of Modern Architecture in the United States by Miriam F. Stimpson

Burroughs-Wellcome Building

Burroughs Wellcome Building, Research Triangle Park, NC, Paul Rudolph, 1969-72.

Credit

photographer unknown, courtesy Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Site overview

A dynamic and expressive design was created for this administrative headquarters. Rhythm and space are achieved through the use of strong external forms arranged in a contemporary "ziggurat fashion." Lighting within the interior spaces effectively adds to the building's design. The interaction of bold forms with the rolling hillside is intriguing as well as harmonious. The building is one of its kind in the nation. Adapted from A Field Guide to Landmarks of Modern Architecture in the United States by Miriam F. Stimpson

Burroughs-Wellcome Building

Sketched elevation of east end of administran building dated May 8, 1969 

Credit

© The Estate of Paul Rudolph courtesy the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Site overview

A dynamic and expressive design was created for this administrative headquarters. Rhythm and space are achieved through the use of strong external forms arranged in a contemporary "ziggurat fashion." Lighting within the interior spaces effectively adds to the building's design. The interaction of bold forms with the rolling hillside is intriguing as well as harmonious. The building is one of its kind in the nation. Adapted from A Field Guide to Landmarks of Modern Architecture in the United States by Miriam F. Stimpson

Burroughs-Wellcome Building

Aerial perspective rendering

Credit

© The Estate of Paul Rudolph courtesy the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Site overview

A dynamic and expressive design was created for this administrative headquarters. Rhythm and space are achieved through the use of strong external forms arranged in a contemporary "ziggurat fashion." Lighting within the interior spaces effectively adds to the building's design. The interaction of bold forms with the rolling hillside is intriguing as well as harmonious. The building is one of its kind in the nation. Adapted from A Field Guide to Landmarks of Modern Architecture in the United States by Miriam F. Stimpson

Burroughs-Wellcome Building

Interior of Burroughs-Wellcome Building

Credit

photographer unknown, courtesy the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Site overview

A dynamic and expressive design was created for this administrative headquarters. Rhythm and space are achieved through the use of strong external forms arranged in a contemporary "ziggurat fashion." Lighting within the interior spaces effectively adds to the building's design. The interaction of bold forms with the rolling hillside is intriguing as well as harmonious. The building is one of its kind in the nation. Adapted from A Field Guide to Landmarks of Modern Architecture in the United States by Miriam F. Stimpson

Burroughs-Wellcome Building

Burroughs-Wellcome Building March 28, 2020

Credit

© PJ McDonnell courtesy the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Site overview

A dynamic and expressive design was created for this administrative headquarters. Rhythm and space are achieved through the use of strong external forms arranged in a contemporary "ziggurat fashion." Lighting within the interior spaces effectively adds to the building's design. The interaction of bold forms with the rolling hillside is intriguing as well as harmonious. The building is one of its kind in the nation. Adapted from A Field Guide to Landmarks of Modern Architecture in the United States by Miriam F. Stimpson

Burroughs-Wellcome Building

Guard post built to resemble the angular protrusions of the Burroughs Wellcome Building.

Credit

© PJ McDonnell courtesy the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Site overview

A dynamic and expressive design was created for this administrative headquarters. Rhythm and space are achieved through the use of strong external forms arranged in a contemporary "ziggurat fashion." Lighting within the interior spaces effectively adds to the building's design. The interaction of bold forms with the rolling hillside is intriguing as well as harmonious. The building is one of its kind in the nation. Adapted from A Field Guide to Landmarks of Modern Architecture in the United States by Miriam F. Stimpson

How to Visit

Private commercial building

Location

3030 East Cornwallis Road
Durham, NC, 27713

Burroughs Wellcome Building, Research Triangle Park, NC, Paul Rudolph, 1969-72.

Credit:

Columbia University, Avery Architecture and Fine Arts Library, Joseph W. Moliter Photograph Collection

Burroughs Wellcome Building, Research Triangle Park, NC, Paul Rudolph, 1969-72.

Credit:

photographer unknown, courtesy Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Sketched elevation of east end of administran building dated May 8, 1969 

Credit:

© The Estate of Paul Rudolph courtesy the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Aerial perspective rendering

Credit:

© The Estate of Paul Rudolph courtesy the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Interior of Burroughs-Wellcome Building

Credit:

photographer unknown, courtesy the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Burroughs-Wellcome Building March 28, 2020

Credit:

© PJ McDonnell courtesy the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Guard post built to resemble the angular protrusions of the Burroughs Wellcome Building.

Credit:

© PJ McDonnell courtesy the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation

Designer(s)

Paul Rudolph

Architect

Paul M. Rudolph (1918-1997) was born a minister’s son in Elkton, Kentucky.

Inspired by architecture at an early age, Rudolph studied architecture as an undergraduate at Alabama Polytechnic (now Auburn University), and after a brief period in the Navy during WWII, he successfully completed graduate studies at Harvard under Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius.

Rudolph was a pioneering architect in Sarasota, Florida, a major figure of the ‘Sarasota School of Architecture,' which gained international attention for innovative solutions to the modern American home.

He was Dean of the Yale School of Architecture from 1958-1965, during which his best known work, the Yale Art & Architecture Building, was completed and became both a Modernist icon and a topic of controversy.

After his tenure at Yale, Rudolph continued during the next 30 years to create some of Modernism's most unique and powerful architecture.

Despite the wane in Rudolph’s popularity during the dominance of Post-Modernism in the late 70’s and 80’s, his work and legacy has had a profound impact on the architecture of our era.

Rudolph, who is today considered one of America’s great Late Modernist architects, was an inspirational mentor to those whom he taught. His former students include some of architecture’s most internationally respected architects such as Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, and Robert A.M. Stern, among many others.

Nationality

American

Other designers

Daniels Construction Company

Related News

Related Sites

Commission

1969

Completion

1972

Original Brief

Planned as an "M.I.T. of North Carolina," the Burroughs Wellcome Corporation Headquarters in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina was designed by Paul Rudolph starting in 1969 and completed by the Daniels Construction Company in 1972. 

In February 1969, pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome purchased a little over 66 acres of rolling woodland from the Research Triangle Foundation to relocate its headquarters from Tuckahoe, New York. The client requested a building design shaped to its needs, yet architecturally distinctive, with flexibility a primary programmatic goal of the space. To prepare for this, each major area in Rudolph’s plan - laboratories, administration and support services - are capable of being expanded by simple, linear addition. Rudolph left the expansible ends of the building expressed in a random pattern of flattened hexagons, so that any of the elements can be extended horizontally without disturbing the building’s visual order. The building has a trapezoidal steel frame giving it a ‘ziggurat’ appearance and in plan it forms a giant ‘S’ shape with opposing arms that form a main entry court and large service yard. The exterior and partial interior was finished in a limestone aggregate, which Rudolph also used at the Deane Residence and the Micheels Residence. The 300,000 s.f. site includes research laboratory and administrative space, a library, auditorium, cafeteria and support activity spaces for 400 workers. 



The Burroughs Wellcome Company went through a series of mergers over the years and eventually became GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). It was closed to the public for decades and no photos were permitted inside the building due to the sensitive nature of the work. In 1988, the building was renamed the Elion-Hitchings Building in honor of Gertrude Elion and George Hitchings, research chemists who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Sir James Black. In 2012, after a period of vacancy, GSK sold the building to United Therapeutics. The structure is currently threatened with demolition.

Source: Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation


Significant Alteration(s) with Date(s)

The original building has several additions, including a Main Building addition in 1976, a Toxicology/Experimental Pathology Building addition in 1978 and a South Building Expansion in 1982. Rudolph also was asked to create a new Masterplan for the site in 1982.


United Therapeutics demolished part of the structure in 2014.