ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
A place for research The second and third floors of the building are research spaces designed to promote ‘clinical research excellence’. The building’s design has created multidisciplinary team spaces around large open tables. Group meeting breakout rooms and small kitchens make these spaces interactive, promoting collaboration. Three research themes will occupy each of the research
floors – population health, vaccines, and clinical and experimental medicine on the second floor, with social sciences, infection biology, and maternal, neonatal, and child health, on the third. Research support unit and operational department teams will work across the research spaces. Single-cell transcriptomics, modern imaging, and rapid pathogen sequencing for outbreak responsiveness, are accommodated in the fourth-floor laboratory. CREATOR’s labs are innovative and technology driven. The Innovation Hub has been designed as a space
where ideas will be born, tested, and grown through collaboration. The programme’s aim is for its science to be world-class, relevant, and innovative. CREATOR’s ‘Far View’ roof terrace has an unequalled view of Mount Soche and all the Blantyre hills, and has been designed as a space for celebration and reflection. It is one of a number of key spaces designed as part of the development that includes full accessibility to the site’s gardens and parklands. These spaces include the ‘South Lawn’, which has been designed with educational, public engagement, and VIP reception facilities. A dining terrace has also been created to provide a cultural meeting place. ‘The Learning Forest’ is another open space in the grounds of the building, and is a place where people can walk and meet, learn and discuss. CREATOR’s environmentally friendly transport support includes a bus terminal and cycle racking.
A focus on climate change The CREATOR building faces south, with a direct view of the mudslides on Soche Mountain that occurred during Cyclone Freddy in February 2023, killing more than 500 people in the Chilobwe disaster. Climate change, weather instability, and community vulnerability, are urgent issues in the local community. Informative displays on the South Lawn will describe the current state of climate change, the
The Innovation Hub has been designed as a space where ideas will be born, tested, and grown through collaboration
environmental threats and mitigation strategies that can be deployed in Malawi, and the means for community engagement with these issues ‘to make a difference’. The displays are designed to be a focus for visiting
schools’ groups and community engagement functions on the South Lawn. To the south and east of CREATOR, 700 indigenous trees are being planted to conserve the urban ecology. Tables and benches will allow for relaxed meetings and well-being time for researchers and health workers. CREATOR has been built on the site of Queen Elizabeth
Central Hospital, the largest teaching hospital in Malawi. It is also near to KUHeS, the foundation medical and allied health professionals’ school in Malawi, and sits beside MLW, the largest research institute in the region. The critical location of CREATOR, in the hospital grounds and between existing laboratories and the wards, ensures that the centre is a meeting place, not only between clinicians and scientists, but also as a hub for interaction with other research affiliates, including Blantyre Malaria Project and the Johns Hopkins HIV Project. The strategically placed building will also act as a base
for MLW’s expanding community outreach teams, who have mapped over a million people in intervention studies across the country.
Making a difference The importance of CREATOR cannot be underestimated. Speaking at the building’s official opening, Prof. Henry Mwandumba, director of MLW, said: “CREATOR is extremely important because it creates the infrastructure and support that will enable clinicians to conduct high quality research that can promote the health and wellbeing of people in Malawi and beyond. It is a significant milestone in health research in Malawi.” Professor David Lalloo, Vice-Chancellor of LSTM, said:
“CREATOR is more than a building. It is a significant step in the transfer of power in clinical research capacity and knowledge towards the Global South, which is a key part of LSTM’s mission.” Prof. Louise Kenny, Executive Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Health and Life Sciences at the University of Liverpool, said: “This milestone moment in our shared journey will build on our collaborative work to tackle the most urgent health challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, realising ambitions to create an optimal research environment for tomorrow’s health research leaders in Africa.” Meanwhile, John-Arne Røttingen, CEO of Wellcome, said: “CREATOR provides world-class infrastructure, but more than that, it provides an exciting opportunity. “Through collaborative science, CREATOR will nurture new generations of research and clinical leaders to learn, discover, experiment, and ultimately solve, urgent health challenges.”
CGI images of the Postgraduate library and Innovation Hub.
Paul Moores
Paul Moores, Registered Architect BA(Hons), Dip Arch, RIBA, MUSA MAAK, MRIA, FBW’s Group MD, is a founding director of the business, and has been based in Kampala since 1998. He is responsible for all group activities and business development in East Africa, and the primary contact for FBW Group globally. Paul is a qualified architect, registered in UK, Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya. He is a highly respected professional with wide-ranging experience in all fields of project management and architectural design, and broad working experience in the construction industry, gained in over 25 years as a practising architect in both Europe and Africa.
November 2024 Health Estate Journal 59
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