CASE STUDY
LAFARGE CONCRETE HELPS PROVIDE NEW HOME FOR DARWIN PLANTS
PLANT specimens collected by Darwin during his voyage on the Beagle have found a new home in a landmark building constructed with Lafarge concrete.
The pressed and dried samples, part of a bank of more than a million, are being housed at the Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge University’s new state-of-the-art plant research centre.
Aptly located in a corner of the university’s 40 acre Botanical Garden – set out in 1831 by John Henslow, tutor and mentor of Darwin - the £80m centre is a two-storey angular structure formed from virtually seamless concrete slabs intercut with limestone columns and huge glazed windows.
Some of the world’s top botanical scientists will use the space, designed with lab rooms, support areas, meeting spaces, a seminar room and a publicly accessible ground floor café.
A third of the building is underground forming the environmentally controlled University Herbarium, the location for Darwin’s specimens. These specimens are considered a key resource in our understanding of plant evolution and biodiversity.
The project, now completed and due for an official opening later this year, presented a raft of challenges to realise the vision of architects Stanton Williams.
Designed in consultation with Bob McGhee, a leading American laboratory designer responsible for more than 50 laboratories for the Howard Hughes Foundation in the US, the building required solidity and strength combined with space and light.
The aim was to create a landmark collegial building, sensitive to the historic garden which forms both the setting and the inspiration for the innovative research to take place within its confines. To provide this sense of permanence coupled with permeability, Stanton Williams decided on concrete as the primary construction material. A fundamental element of this was Lafarge’s decorative concrete Artevia, 2,100m3
of which, tinted with 20 tonnes
of white pigment, was used for the wall facings. Perfecting the tint itself posed a particular problem. But tenacity paid off. Simon Morgan, Sector Manager for Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire, Lafarge Aggregates, said:
“We went through 18 months of trials with various mixtures until we had a colour the architect was satisfied with. The idea was to have a building full of light and space and the walls needed to be bright and to reflect the natural daylight streaming through roof lights and windows. I think what went in our favour, apart from our product obviously, was our ability to offer consistency, our level of control and our determination to succeed.”
A total of 4,800m3 structural concrete and 3,500m3 of
waterproof concrete was used alongside the 2,100m3 of Artevia to help create the U-shaped 11,000m² building. Concrete sub-contractors Whelan and Grant
|152| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE
employed innovative pouring techniques, casting in-situ, to ensure surfaces were virtually seamless – again part of the architect’s vision for space and clean lines – linked to the central concept of integration between building and surroundings.
Enclosing a courtyard that is open to the botanic garden on its fourth side, the laboratory building is experienced as a series of landscaped spaces connected by a continuous route. The route, a ‘thinking path’ forming a modern day cloister on the ground floor and becoming an elevated concrete walkway on the first floor, connects the publicly accessible café, informal working spaces, social areas, labs and extends out into the botanic garden itself and its network of pathways, merging the building and landscape.
Floor to ceiling glazing, roof lights and the bright, white concrete walls attract and reflect light giving a feeling of openness.
Simon said: “A key priority for Lafarge is to ensure the business fulfils its responsibility in delivering ‘One Planet Living’ and environmental sustainability so it was a great honour to be part of this building project, providing a new focus for biodiversity research.
I had never been to a site as intricate as this was. It is amazing what has been done with our material. The final result is really quite an amazing building. We are delighted to have been involved in its construction and to have helped make it so extraordinary.”
The project meets Cambridge City Council’s planning requirement for 10% renewable on-site energy generation through use of photovoltaic panels and has been designed to achieve a BREEAM ‘Excellent’.
The centre will eventually house 120 scientists supported by more than 30 additional staff, studying plant growth and development.
Funding for the new laboratory has come from The Gatsby Charitable Foundation, one of the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164