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NEWS EDUCATION
Penoyre & Prasad complete UCL built environment research lab
London-based architecture practice Penoyre & Prasad has completed what’s claimed to be a “unique” research laboratory in Dagenham for University College London, PEARL, whose goal is to “improve the built environment and the way we interact with it.” The laboratory will create “life-sized environments” such as a railway station, high street, or town square, all built “under controlled conditions.” The architects said this will be a “fi rst of its kind” facility, that can simulate the urban environment to test how people use infrastructure and cities, with the goal of “improving urban design, for a more accessible and sustainable future.” The project will bring together engineers, architects, biologists, social scientists, neurologists, artists and the public. With a fl oor area totalling around 4,000 m², a volume of 44,000 m³, and a height of 10 metres, the laboratory space has been designed and engineered with 40 metre clear structural spans to house “hugely varied” research experiments. Equipped with “indoor ambient environments” and sound systems, the
Images © Timothy Soar
laboratory will test the impact of space, colour, lighting, smell, visibility, appearance, touch and sound on people’s behaviour and perception – creating as close to real-life scenarios as possible.
The laboratory’s interior is black, and sound reverberation is very low – as part of the intention to “remove people’s sense of being in a building,” said Penoyre & Prasad. Gridded rigs, made from theatre-style trusses, are suspended from the primary steel structure, holding specialist lighting, speakers, props, cameras and sensors. A free-standing two-storey CLT structure houses the entrance, community-facing facilities, workshops and fl exible academic workspaces. Directly connected to the lab is a workshop and maker space facility for small scale testing, prototyping and manufacturing of experiment equipment, and a “sound preparation studio.” Externally, the building’s form and materials relate to the site’s industrial architectural heritage; 9 metre high, rusted steel panels gradually fan out across the frontage, providing shading to the entrance building. A triangular forecourt will facilitate larger experiments, including the use of tube and train carriages, and a decommissioned aircraft fuselage. The project is thought to be the fi rst
fi nished building to achieve an Outstanding rating under the new BREEAM standards.
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK ADF MARCH 2022
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