Beautiful Biochemistry Educating the workers - Department of ...

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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
innovative research environment people to look at what we’re doing. We have nothing to hide, and a good many things to show.’ Another innovative aspect of the project has been the involvement of a group of contemporary artists in the interior design, through an initiative called Salt Bridges. During residencies where they worked closely with biochemists, the artists each gained inspiration which has led them to produce a series of installations and other works that complement the building. Lead artist Nicky Hirst has created a screen-printed design for the external glass that has both a practical solar shading function and an artistic one. A repeated visual motif based on the Rorschach inkblot test raises questions about the nature of perception and order, symmetry and opposition. The atrium is fitted with a bespoke carpet with a bold pattern that is neither entirely uniform nor random, the work of digital artist Tim Head, who is interested in the visual representation of abstract concepts and ideas, as are the scientists working in structural bioinformatics and computational biochemistry with whom he undertook his residency. There is a portfolio of intriguing, multi-textural photographs, taken throughout the demolition and construction work by Peter Fraser, and Annie Cattrell’s striking mobile sculpture for the atrium evokes both the movement of plasma and the relationships between a flock of birds. What has recently opened is in fact just half a building. A second section, linked to the first on the other side of the atrium, is planned and will be added when the necessary funds have been raised. This second phase, which will involve the demolition of Biochemistry’s 1960s tower block, will house up to 500 more scientists working in areas related to biochemistry, and provide further facilities for researchers and graduate students. The construction of Phase I of the building has cost £49m and has been funded by HEFCE (the Higher Education Funding Council for England), The Wolfson Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and individual benefactors. At the opening ceremony, Professor Nasmyth paid tribute to the harmonious collaboration there has been between Biochemistry, the University’s Estates Directorate, architects Hawkins\Brown, and builders Laing O’Rourke: ‘Everyone realised right from the start that it was a rather special project,’ he said. Many people have expressed the hope that this pioneering building will inspire and encourage all those responsible for future University building projects to take a strategic and innovative approach. Looking back on nearly ten years of hard work by hundreds of people, departmental administrator Denis O’Driscoll says: ‘We wanted a “wow” building, something different from just a functional building that provided people with 1.5 metres of bench space. We have aspirations for this place: we want to make it easier for people to do their jobs… and to be as good as they possibly can.’ Take a look! You can see a 360 degree interactive view of the inside of the building at www.chem.ox.ac.uk:80/oxfordtour/ biochemistry/ For more information see The Building Project at www. bioch.ox.ac.uk/buildingproject.asp and The Salt Bridges Art Programme at http://saltbridges.bioch. ox.ac.uk/ Karl Harrison Around the atrium: (left) two works by Tim Head – the Open Field carpet and Light Cycle light installation – explore the delicate balance between predetermined patterns and randomness found in biomolecular systems; (below) Annie Cattrell’s 0 to 10,000,000 ‘artist’s chandelier’ is inspired by the formation of a plasma and the interaction of a flock of birds in flight; (top right) view from the first floor; (bottom right) the atrium downstairs, with Light Cycle on the left Greg Smolonski Greg Smolonski Blueprint January 2009 7
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