Beautiful Biochemistry Educating the workers - Department of ...

The New Biochemistry Building fuses science and art to create an
Greg Smolonski
Biochemistry raises the bar
‘The great thing about this building is that collaboration, something that is especially
you don’t need email any longer,’ said Kim important in a subject as interdisciplinary
Nasmyth, Head of Department and Whitley in nature as biochemistry at Oxford,
Professor of Biochemistry, quoting one of his encompassing as it does bioinformatics,
students at the opening of the University’s chromosome biology, genetics, molecular
new Biochemistry Building on 3 December biophysics and biochemistry.
2008. The observation neatly sums up what ‘The thing that has really impressed me is
makes the building special: an exceptionally how well this idea of creating a space that will
imaginative design that not only provides encourage and increase interactions between
spacious, modern laboratories and writing-up people on the different floors has actually
areas, but also maximises the opportunities for worked,’ says Neil Brockdorff, Wellcome Trust
face-to-face interaction between the 35 Principal Fellow and Professor of Biochemistry,
academics and 300-plus researchers and who works on developmental epigenetics.
postgraduate students who work there. Since moving in, in early November, he
These chance meetings – dozens of which has regularly found himself bumping into
occur every day in the light-filled atrium colleagues and sitting down to talk things
and inviting open-plan seating areas that over, and is trying out different spots to eat
surround it on five levels, on the walkways his sandwiches at lunchtime: ‘The building’s
and staircases, in the café and in the garden just got that feeling…you want to explore it.’
on the roof – lead on very naturally to
This productive new working environment
scientists sharing their results and ideas. They replaces Biochemistry’s two oldest buildings.
significantly increase the likelihood of fruitful Dating from 1892 and 1930, these were
no longer fit for purpose and were a drain
on resources because of high maintenance
costs. Their warren-like layout offered few
opportunities for colleagues to meet and
discuss their work.
The Department set up a Project Sponsor
Group to address the challenge under the
co-chairmanship of David Sherratt, Iveagh
Professor of Microbiology, and Jonathan
Hodgkin, Professor of Genetics. Rather
than trying to ‘make do’ by updating these
buildings or infilling around them, the group
took the bold decision to demolish them
and start again. This strategic approach and
refusal to compromise underpins a project
that has raised the bar for the design of new
university buildings at Oxford and beyond.
Architects Hawkins\Brown, who won the
contract by competition, had never worked on
a science laboratory before. Although some
of their original ideas were impracticable, their
lack of preconceptions and fresh approach
proved invaluable. The resulting building fuses
the white-painted, wipe-clean, right-angled
requirements of science labs with the curving,
organic forms more commonly associated
with iconic modern cultural institutions
such as the Sydney Opera House or Bilbao
Guggenheim. It is both beautiful and practical.
For example, offices built around atriums can
be noisy, but here the use of wooden panels
as sound-proofing on the stairs and walkways,
and prior acoustic testing using a model,
has ensured that noise levels remain at an
acceptable low hum.
Environmental issues have been considered
too. The toilets are flushed with water from
a large rainwater collection tank, and some
electricity is provided by photovoltaic cells
on the glass atrium roof. Natural ventilation is
used in the central atrium.
The building’s combination of daylight,
filtered and dappled through the richly
coloured glass fins of its façade, and carefully
designed artificial lighting, is worlds away
from the dark corridors and neon-lit
laboratories it replaces, and make it a
cheerful and healthy workplace. Professor
Judy Armitage, Director of the Oxford Centre
for Integrative Systems Biology, reflects:
‘Having spent my university career in crumbly
buildings…to come into a building like this,
you actually feel wanted!’
There was a further reason for choosing
a transparent building, explains Jonathan
Hodgkin, relating to transparency in its
metaphorical sense. The design challenges
public preconceptions about the insularity and
secretive nature of science: ‘We’re happy for
6
Blueprint January 2009