The building, at the southeast corner of Duncan and South Newstead avenues, will extend Washington Us medical campus eastward, to the western edge of the Cortex Innovation Community, a hub for technology and biological science research and development. A university-owned parking lot and an Ameren electrical substation now occupy the site.

International architecture firms Perkins and Will, based in Chicago, and CannonDesign, founded in Buffalo, New York, and with an office in St. Louis, are the buildings designers. McCarthy Building Cos., of Ladue, is overseeing construction.

Part of the buildings high cost results from the need for extensive air-handling equipment in laboratories. To isolate microscopes and other sensitive research devices from vibration, the buildings heating and cooling systems will be installed in an adjoining structure.

The university plans to finance most of the yet-to-be-named building through taxable bonds.

Existing medical school space vacated by neuroscience researchers who move to the new building will be reoccupied by researchers in other medical fields.

As part of the project, the university will extend its network of elevated, enclosed walkways to the neuroscience research hub. The new building will have event space, a large seminar room and a food service area. The project includes a parking garage with a capacity of 1,860 vehicles, large enough to accommodate the buildings employees and those working at nearby structures the university might build later, officials said. Workers will be encouraged to use the Cortex MetroLink station. The neuroscience building will have bicycle storage for employees.

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Washington University to build $616 million neuroscience building in Cortex - St. Louis Post-Dispatch