New top class laboratory building designed especially for RUC
In a year and a half, a brand new 5,000 square meter top class laboratory building is expected to be completed at RUC. Special zones allocated for group work and informal meetings will make this laboratory building particularly suitable for RUC's form of teaching.
The natural sciences students at Roskilde University can look forward to working in a beautiful new laboratory environment in the future because a 5,000 square meter laboratory building at a value of DKK 123 million is to be built at RUC. The building is designed in a way that it supports RUC's special form of teaching.
“The laboratory building contains different types of rooms: central joint laboratories, research laboratories, teaching laboratories, offices, meeting rooms, class rooms and a canteen. In between these rooms, several different zones and spaces have been designed for group work and informal meetings,” says Architecht Elizabeth Balsborg from Henning Larsen Architechts in charge of the design.
The many different rooms are meant to create the framework for high-level education and development and to work as the joint academic meeting place for the various academic environments at RUC. To achieve the best result, the design has been developed in a collaboration with RUC researchers.
The new laboratory building is primarily allocated for the Department of Science, Systems and Models (NSM) and the Department of Environmental, Social and Spacial Change (ENSPAC).
“When designing this new laboratory building, we consciously and specifically intended the building to support RUC's special form of teaching,” says Stine Korreman, Head of the Department of Science, Systems and Models.
“A good student environment has been our top priority throughout the design of the building,” she adds.
The collaboration between architects and researchers proved to be a very good way to work, says Elizabeth.
“Our collaboration has been really good and constructive, and getting an insight into the way researchers work has been very educational,” she says.
The building is intended to provide a breeding ground for a close collaboration between researchers and students from different areas to facilitate collaboration also across subjects and areas.
A light-embracing building
Large window sections, skylights and courtyards form important elements of the building, and as a result it is extensively bathed in daylight. The courtyards are little outdoor areas placed in between the large buildings, thus helping to bring the research environment closer to nature and the daylight.
“In the joint laboratories, the daylight is let in from inner planted courtyards, thus inviting nature into the building, ” explains Elizabeth.
The architects have incorporated light in all its varieties into the design of the building, while emphasising that both the feel of the room and the light should vary when flowing through the group rooms, the communal areas and the laboratories.
“In the large area with space for group work and informal meetings on staircases and connection strips, daylight comes through large glass sections facing green courtyards to the North and the large green to the South. Here, the experience is more extrovert,” says Elizabeth.
The new building is flexible and offers plenty of possibilities which means, for example, that you can change the building on an ongoing basis.
Generally, Henning Larsen Architects is very pleased with the collaboration with RUC and hope for more such collaborations in the future.
“Working with the construction committee at RUC has been very inspiring and educational,” says Elizabeth.
The laboratory building will also contain quite a few sustainable installations since there are special low energy requirements in low energy class 2015 which must be met. This applies to, for example, 265 square meters of solar cells which will be installed as part of the laboratory building to minimise energy consumption.
The building is expected to be ready for occupation already in June 2014.
Commencement of the construction will be celebrated on Friday 8 February at 2:30 p.m., after which RUC will host a reception with the participation of the mayor of the City of Roskilde to be held in building 30.