BIOCENTRE IN UNIVERSITY PARK – WINNING PROJECT
15 January 2001 - NNE A/S

Functionality, flexibility and dynamism: these are the core features of the winning project for the new Biocentre. The architecture and the laboratory concept combine to create the best framework for a research environment which will cut across research boundaries, a framework which will be functional for users and yet inspire them to dynamic cooperation.

The competition to design the new Biocentre in Copenhagen's University Park was organized by the Ministry of Research through the Building Directorate. The users of the centre will be Copenhagen University's Molecular Biology Institute, Biotech Research & Innovation Cente and Copenhagen Hospital Cooperation. The winning project is by KHR AS Arkitekter, Novo Nordisk Engineering A/S and Carl Bro as, who have together produced the best design for the first phase of the Biocentre and a general plan for the area and the subsequent additions.

The siting of the Biocentre and the subsequent additions will complete the ring of buildings around University Park in Copenhagen. The first and second phases of the Biocentre and a research park will be located in an area between Tagensvej and University Park. Subsequent additions to the Biocentre will be located in an area between Jagtvej and University Park. The actual teaching facilities will be housed in the existing TTA building.

The first phase of the Biocentre includes a proposal for the setting up and fitting out of laboratories of varying complexity and size, an administration centre and communal facilities.

The laboratory areas open onto the park with a north-facing glass facade which lets in the light and the view to the full floor height, whilst the south-facing offices have a bright, travertine-clad façade. The laboratory wings are connected by a central north-south main building which forms the social axis of the centre. It is here that the horizontal and vertical movements of the building are brought together in the bright inner central space. The Biocentre's canteen and auditorium project onto the park as a low, curved building.

The first phase of the Biocentre covers 20,000 m², the research park 10,000 m² and the subsequent developments 30,000 m², all figures are gross floor areas without basement.

'Sharing knowledge is an important precondition for developing knowledge. Seeking knowledge is an important precondition for discovering knowledge. The physical framework is a necessary precondition for people being able to meet whatever their area of knowledge'.

This is how the three companies introduce the idea behind the winning design. In practice, it means that the centre's location and layout must complete the building's architectural flexibility, the premises both being functional for users and inspiring them to dynamic cooperation. The ideal knowledge centre must give the possibility of social spaciousness and not just accommodate small knowledge cells which do not invite users to contact one another or to share their knowledge.

The idea is therefore to create a Biocentre with the focus on a flexible research unit which has well-lit and user-friendly working facilities and to create a large inner social axis for communal activities and breaks. This will create the best framework for the dynamism which is to characterize the Biocentre in University Park.

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