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Britain鈥檚 most internationally famous, cutting-edge medical research project has recently expanded into a larger, multipurpose campus that is just as cutting edge. Far from being a regimented maze of boffins鈥� labs, the 拢95m campus expansion is a relaxed, freewheeling collection of buildings clustered around a landscaped square and surrounded by the lush Countryside south of Cambridge.

The buildings and the spaces between them come in a rich variety of irregular geometries, with inward and outward-sloping walls, sharp angles, wide overhangs and gently curved green roofs like natural mounds. Materials on view include panellised curtain walls, metal and sedum roof coverings and even precast concrete panels with exposed flint aggregate.

The project is the Wellcome Trust鈥檚 Human Genome Project, which can justifiably claim to lead the world in decoding the human genome. Over the past nine years, the Wellcome Trust鈥檚 research team has contributed about 35% of the human genetic code, or genome, more than any other single organisation in this global project. To get an idea of what that means, consider that the human genome contains 3 billion units of chemical information, which is the equivalent of a printed document 70 m thick.

Now that the basic mapping of the genome is complete, Wellcome鈥檚 research at is moving into a second phase. It is progressing from the relatively repetitive linear process of decoding to more open-ended, complex and demanding research into the application of the genetic code to the differences between individual humans, to medical conditions and possible treatments for them. This involves the combination of traditional laboratory research with the new-fangled science of bioinformatics, which involves complex mathematical analyses of biological data and the manipulation of visual images.

This phase of research calls for an increase of staff from 650 to 850, and the corresponding expansion of the premises to house them. But since the nature of the research is becoming more diverse and open-ended, a more diverse collection of building types is needed to house it.

To accommodate the first phase of the project, the world鈥檚 first research centre was purpose-built in 1996 next to a converted Georgian manor house at Hinxton, 10 miles south of Cambridge. Designed by Sheppard Robson, it took the relatively conventional form of a linear sequence of laboratories. The newly completed second phase, situated in an adjoining 30 ha site, combines laboratories, bioinformatics offices, a large animal house and a data centre of awesome capacity. It also includes a large amenity building to serve the whole expanded campus. And two later phases to be built over the next few years will comprise a biosciences innovation centre and additional facilities for genome-related start-up companies.

The newly completed phase and the two project phases of the campus make up the first project designed by the British office of the giant American architect NBBJ. In the newly completed phase, a gracious pedestrianised square forms the centrepiece and sets the tone for the whole 20,300 m2 campus. Most of the square is paved in riven buff-coloured granite, and on warm days it hums with groups of young researchers eating, drinking and conversing around a cluster of timber tables. The tables are overlooked through a window wall by the adjoining restaurant, and a few are shaded by its curving metal roof overhang that is as wide as an aeroplane wing, comes to a sharp point at one end and is supported on sloping struts, also with an aerodynamic feel.

Facing the restaurant across the square is the main research building fronted by an outward-sloping curtain wall of blue and brown tinted panels. This two-storey building combines the laboratories and their write-up spaces, bioinformatics offices, the data nerve centre and a power plant. And hidden behind the research building is the large, windowless animal research house.

The entire campus is no more than three storeys in height, and largely because the restaurant and its external dining area are given such prominence, it has a relaxed, playful, somewhat Californian atmosphere. This loose layout expresses the more

open-ended nature of the current research programme. It also reflects the social character of the campus, which consists of a dynamic community of young multinational researchers with an average age of 35.

There informal ambiance, the close arrangement of diverse research and amenity spaces and the central square and restaurant have a serious scientific purpose. That is to generate buzz and interaction between the people involved in the different strands of research. As Alan Bradley, the centre鈥檚 director, puts it: 鈥淭here are now dozens of teams working on different projects, and we have to get them all working together like a community. There鈥檚 a lot of science that is nucleated by casual connection 鈥� you know, sitting down and having a cup of coffee, or bumping into one another in the hall.鈥�

One other generator of the low-rise informal layout was its location in the area of outstanding natural beauty that lies alongside the River Cam, within bucolic farmland and next to two ancient villages. Planning permission for change of use from agriculture was a fraught issue that involved two public inquiries. As a result, the restaurant building and the animal house have roofs planted with sedum, and these curve towards the site perimeter as if to merge into the surrounding landscape. In addition, fingers of landscape stretch into the heart of the complex, dividing it into four hamlet-size clusters. And there are no forbidding security fences guarding the animal house from protesters: all security devices are hidden from view underground.

Other measures to reduce the impact of the complex include limiting the car parking spaces and hiding them in a podium below the central square. And 6 ha of wetlands on the far side of the Cam are being conserved as a public nature reserve with a lake, which conveniently doubles as flood overflow.

黑洞社区 the accommodation on top of a car parking podium also has a practical function. 鈥淚 said it鈥檚 got to be above the flood plain,鈥� says Bradley, who took over as the centre鈥檚 director in 2000. 鈥淚n phase one, there were building failures after seven days of flooding, and this set back research disastrously.鈥�

Architectural purists will struggle to find any sense of coherence in the many irregular shapes of the buildings and disparate materials used to build them. On the other hand, what this hyperactivity does convey is the campus鈥� dynamism, and that in turn perfectly reflects the activity of the community of researchers who occupy it. 鈥淧eople visiting all remark on the sense of energy, excitement and buzz,鈥� says Bradley. 鈥淎nd many people working here have said: 鈥業t鈥檚 amazing. Our productivity鈥檚 increased since we鈥檝e moved in鈥�.鈥�

Project team

client The Wellcome Trust
architect & interior designer NBBJ
project manager NAI Fuller Peiser
structural & services engineer FaberMaunsell
laboratory planner Research Facilities Design
cost consultant Turner & Townsend
construction manager Mace