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THE SPINE, LIVERPOOL


The mesh-like frit pattern creates a “forest canopy” effect internally, to benefit users and minimise cooling


Liverpool City Council, who developed the project, offered a deal to the college, namely that if they would take half of the 151,000 ft2 building on a long lease, they would get to influence the design, and the choice of architect, via staging a competition.


Brief


Hopkins explains that the remit of the new £35m building was a essentially commercial one, and as a result the architects had to work to the usual constraints in terms of its viability such as establishing the net to gross floor area, working to BCO guidance. The architects had a “very loose” brief from the college, beyond wanting to expand out of London, and they spent around six months with the client exploring what they were already doing, and what they wanted to do. “It became very clear they also wanted to do conferences and events, exhibitions, public outreach,” says Hopkins. They also wanted the space to house the practical MRCP examination, alongside teaching and research, which the college hadn’t been able to do on its Regents Park site. One of the clear drivers was that the


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college “didn’t want to replicate what they had in London.” For example, they wanted a Harvard lecture theatre, which is based on a more ‘open’ format; illustrating how the college also wished to move away from its self-confessedly “insular” nature in its London incarnation. “They were really keen to be seen as an outward- facing organisation.”


As part of this new approach, the client arrived at an aspiration to “set new standards in workplace and biophilic design,” and a driving ethos that people ‘will be healthier when you leave the building than when you walk in.’ This momentum led to a target to achieve WELL Platinum, which will make it, once certified, one of the few buildings in the UK with this level of workplace sustainability certification.


The client wanted a very considered design as a recruitment tool for students and staff: “The brief was to attract and retain a highly-skilled workforce, supported by a unique layout and design which uses biophilic interventions throughout, with connections to nature being proven to reduce stress and increase productivity.”


ADF AUGUST 2022


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