Completed 2005 The Blizard Building and centre of the cell embody the aspiration of collaborative working. The laboratory spaces are all accommodated on a single floor located some six metres below the street and filling the entire site. Above ground, scientists write up their research in a simple glass pavilion, in which are suspended four large pods. One, the Centre of the Cell, is to be fitted out as an interactive exhibition for school children. The first of its kind in a research building; it reaches out to the local community to celebrate the human body and reflect the research interests and aspirations of the scientific community. The other pods facilitate meeting activities and provide a striking backdrop to an otherwise normal office environment.
Alsop Design
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Completed 2007 The Birkbeck Film School project was about the creation of an emotive, thought provoking place for the study of Film and Visual Media. We intended the project to transform a utilitarian extension into a vibrant new environment, a feast for the senses. The auditorium is a tapering black volume at the heart of the project. Conceptually, the break-out circulation space is created by a ‘cutting block’ that tumbles through the ‘solid mass’ of the extension, morphing into different configurations. This movement is frozen at particular points in time like a stop frame animation. It creates a 3D cutting pattern that carves out the space and leaves a reciprocal imprint on the space.
Sam McElhinney
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