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FRANCIS CRICK INSTITUTE, LONDON He continues: “Its location is central to


more than three dozen other important scientific and academic research facilities within a five mile radius, encouraging dialogue and collaboration, as well as major hospitals.”


Being a research hub “not just for the


UK, but for Europe as well,” the location’s near-unrivalled transport links are vital to allow some of the best minds of Europe easy access to the facility. He added that there was also strong evidence that many talented young researchers head for the capital city, “with its many museums, theatres, sporting events and institutions of learning.”


We wanted to convey the wonder and excitement of science by making the building as transparent as possible


British microbiologist and co-discoverer of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, the project is a partnership between six of the world’s leading biomedical research organisations – the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust, University College London, Imperial College London and King’s College London. Amongst its seven key aims are researching into pathogen behaviour, how cancer responds to therapy, and the behaviour of the immune and nervous systems.


HOK was appointed as the lead architect for the project in 2008, following a rigorous selection process. PLP Architecture joined the design team in 2010, to collaborate with HOK on the building’s external envelope. BMJ Architects was also appointed and retained as a biological research facilities consultant.


A sense of order


Its dimensions are colossal – 170 metres long, with 93,000 m2


of floor space, four


floors below ground, eight floors above, and 1,553 rooms, the Crick was at one point the biggest single building being constructed in the UK.


The man responsible for driving the design forward amid some controversy around locating some potentially nightmarish pathogens in the heart of London was Larry Malcic, design principal at HOK. He reveals to ADF that the building is located in London “for several reasons.”


WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK


The building is located cheek by jowl with two distinct urban typologies. These are very large civic buildings – including the British Library and St Pancras Station – and residential flats to the north and west. According to Malcic, “the design is intended to mediate between the two scales, with the overall volume divided into four blocks, linked by fully glazed atrium spaces.”


The body of the building is composed of two long laboratory wings that run east to west, separated by a glazed-ended atrium that flares out spectacularly to the east. The wings are bisected by a north-south atrium, which divides the building into four distinct science ‘neighbourhoods’. “The resulting cruciform atrium introduces daylight deep into the laboratory quadrants through its glass roof and four glazed end walls, offering views into the workings of the building from the external public spaces,” says Malcic.


The cathedral-like scale of the main atrium is interrupted by the transverse atria where, on each level, a third of the floor area is left open to create a double-height relationship with the adjacent floor plate, creating further visual connectivity between the floors.


Unlike many other scientific or clinical buildings, The Crick is open by design. The junction of the two atria is dedicated to informal meeting, with break and administrative areas that are designed to “facilitate serendipitous encounters that support exploration, collaboration and discovery”. These central areas are further connected by a “continuous” open stair.


The labs


In order to support the research undertaken within the general laboratories, a wide range of shared specialist core laboratory facilities have been provided within the


ADF MAY 2018


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