A place of scientific freedom

Many now agree there is a role for design in fostering advances in medical research. The Francis Crick Institute has high ambition to encourage collaboration through clever laboratory design - here we ask if it’ll work

Successful businesses understand the ways in which collaboration can be used as a tool to foster results. Whether organisations do this by partnering with other brands or competitors, or through fostering collaboration internally between different teams or departments, the results of encouraging increased team work and knowledge sharing can drive creativity, innovation and ultimately success.

The health sector is no different.  In the UK someone is diagnosed with cancer every two seconds and 74,000 deaths every year are caused by coronary heart disease. Encouraging collaboration between research organisations could hold the potential to major new breakthroughs in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of these health challenges. The Francis Crick Institute – a interdisciplinary medical research institute that will be located in the heart of London, due to open in 2015 – is an example of a research facility that is doing just that.

Made up of a consortium of six of the UK’s most successful scientific and academic organisations – the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust, University College London, Imperial College London, and King’s College London – the Institute will combine specialist knowledge, expertise and resources from each of these organisations to encourage ground-breaking research. It will carry out biomedical research to help better understand why disease develops and to find new ways to diagnose, prevent and treat a range of illnesses - such as cancer, heart disease and stroke, infection and neurodegenerative disease.

As lead architect for the project, HOK was tasked with creating a building that would not just spark opportunities for interaction, but that would also foster joined up working between different teams and research disciplines, many of whom have never been situated in the same building before. In addition it aims to create an inclusive space for visitors and the local community. It is intended that through cooperation, the Institute will tackle major scientific problems and generate solutions to the emerging health challenges of the 21st century.

Sir Paul Nurse, director and chief executive of The Francis Crick Institute commented: “The bringing together of such a wealth of knowledge and expertise across different scientific disciplines, creates unprecedented opportunities for vital scientific discoveries and breakthroughs. I want scientists at The Crick to mix with the best minds from industry, the city, the public services, the media, to spark off new ideas to help science benefit us all. The Francis Crick Institute will be a place without departments or restricting hierarchies, and HOK’s designs ensure our scientists will be free to pursue their own creative ideas in a highly interactive and open space.”

This focus on collaboration, openness and flexibility was reflected at every stage of the building design.

The development, situated within an important part of the pedestrian network from Euston Road, north to Somers Town and west from St Pancras to Euston, includes landscaped public open spaces, a new pedestrian route and new vehicular access.

It is intended that through exceptional cooperation, the Institute will tackle major scientific problems and generate solutions to the emerging health challenges of the 21st century

The building forms an integrated part of the local environment and the public realm and this has informed the ground floor planning. By setting the public entrance at pavement level, the building is designed to be welcoming and accessible. Public facilities, social spaces, meeting and dining areas located at ground floor enliven the street frontages for passers-by.

Looking firstly at the entrance to the Crick, HOK designed an auditorium, exhibition area and teaching lab adjacent to the main entrance in order to signal the Institute’s fundamental ethos of collaboration, communication and community engagement; helping to demystify the building and open up the space to the local community and visitors.

At the heart of the building a dramatic atrium and cross atrium divide each floor into four distinct but interconnected science neighbourhoods. Double height platforms intersperse the space, creating informal break-out and collaboration spaces that provide a number of quieter areas for individual work and public areas for group work or the presentation of ideas to larger audiences. Write-up areas, offices and lab spaces branch out from the atrium in a linear arrangement, providing maximum visibility across the interior.

Break out spaces (both casual and formal) on each floor further facilitate chance meetings. These collaboration spaces, in contrast to the more functional lab environment, are colourful, stimulating places for creative thought using a rich natural material palette contrasting with the more neutral environment of the research labs. The transverse atrium adds to this contrast providing additional daylight to the central collaboration space together with views onto, and from, the external public areas.

The layout of the lab areas are also designed to be as open as possible, intentionally breaking down both physical and visual barriers between different groups and scientists and encouraging contact with colleagues. Glass partitions between the lab spaces and write up areas ensure high levels of natural light throughout the building, and invite visitors and occupants to look inside.

The lab spaces are been designed to provide maximum flexibility and adaptability, allowing researchers to modify research areas according to their needs to ensure the building can evolve in response to the needs of future research programs. Office and write up spaces are located adjacent to the lab areas in order to provide scientists with a visual connection to their work, and that of their colleagues.

In many research buildings, support facilities would be concentrated in one area, but the Crick’s design strategically locates shared support facilities throughout the building so as to further encourage staff to move around, providing additional opportunities for casual and formal interaction between research scientists pursuing diverse science programmes.

David King, Director at HOK London commented: “HOK has a proven track record of designing complex, state-of-the-art scientific research facilities. Often due to the technical nature of the work being undertaken, the design of such buildings prioritises the design of formal laboratory space. What we have been able to do at The Francis Crick Institute is to combine our expertise in designing innovative research facilities with our knowledge of designing the very best in flexible, forward thinking interiors, to create a space that will not only allow, but actively encourage, the sharing of knowledge and collaboration.”