UCL Cancer Institute

Building Architecture

The Institute is located in the Paul O’Gorman Building in Huntley Street at the heart of the UCL campus. It comprises 5 floors, totalling 4,500 square metres of specialist laboratory space, with the infrastructure to support the modern technologies required to conduct cancer research. It will ultimately house over 350 scientific staff, at least half of whom will be new recruits to UCL.

The building is designed by world-renowned architects at Grimshaw, known for their work on The Eden Project (Cornwall).

The building received a RIBA award in 2009.

 

Inspiration
		The design excellence of Grimshaw buildings rests in the thinking behind them: understanding their purpose, the conditions they create for users, and the materials from which they are constructed. Images created by researchers influenced the design of many elements of the building.

Cell division is used as inspiration for many functional elements. Load lines in the write up area ceilings reflect patterns of cell division.

 

Detail
		The terracotta shades at the front of the building are stationary but are positioned so that they always block 50% of the sun's energy, regardless of the time of day.
		These panels were designed to block electromagnetic waves, whose shapes are the inspiration for the pattern of the panels.