Francis Crick Institute

The institute is organised into quadrants of labs united by full-length and full-width atriums – nave and transepts – with a crossing, at which point its main staircase rises. At their most expansive these atriums are 24m and 50m high. The building has six floors above ground, topped by a triple-height curved roof of aluminium slats, which hide the substantial plant needed – more than a third of the building is devoted to plant and services. The ground floor is reached by a dual-level main entrance on the building’s east side.

The design intent was to develop an overall architectural concept that promotes interdisciplinary work and encourages collaboration between scientists and researchers, while creating a brand new civic landmark of notable architectural expression in King’s Cross. The use of BIM was imperative to ensure the speed and accuracy of the interdisciplinary coordination necessary to achieve early release of structural packages. BIM was also important for automating design iterations, which inevitably had to be tested on a project of this scale and complexity, ensuring optimisation of end product.

Excavation and construction of one of London’s largest basements on a site constrained on all four sides by buried obstructions – including the Thameslink station box and two 120-year-old cast-iron gas mains serving Camden Town – called for a completely bespoke strategy. The result was a delicate balance between structural efficiency, cost, programme and site logistics, relying on complex 3D ground modelling and live on-site movement monitoring to ensure the ongoing integrity of all surrounding third-party assets.