Maurice Wohl Neuroscience Institute

The institute sits within the footprint of a series of terraced houses. It is read firstly as a series of three distinct volumes, with the ground-floor plinth clad in concrete slabs containing a basalt aggregate. To the east a second volume is dominated by large windows. The third is a stack of laboratories, clad in perforated brass shutters, which have been allowed to patinate.

The shuttering system wraps around the building on its second, third and fourth floors. Ostensibly the mechanically operated, perforated brass shutters are to compensate for heat gain along a completely glazed frontage, yet the purpose of full glazing also permits a generous view into the building. Each bay can control its own shutters mechanically.

The building appears to sit on a plinth of precast concrete. The ground floor is articulated to reflect the relationship of the spaces inside with its landscape; the plinth is cut away to reveal less private spaces such as a prominent, fully-glazed café. The white precast concrete panels are softened by a natural stone mix.