Design out for Manchester’s Royce Institute
The University of Manchester has released the first artist’s impressions of the £150m Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials, following the submission of a planning application.
See gallery below
The 170,000 sq ft building is being proposed by the university for a plot off Booth Street, between the Alan Turing Building on Upper Brook Street and the Aquatic Centre on Oxford Road.
Set to open in 2019, it is believed that, at 46 metres high, the nine-storey Royce building will be the tallest on the University of Manchester campus.
The £235m Royce Institute is a ‘hub and spoke’ model, with the £150m hub at the University of Manchester, and spokes at the founding partners: the universities of Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool, Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial College London, as well as the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy and the National Nuclear Laboratory.
Research and industrial collaboration at The Royce will initially focus on nine core areas, with Manchester championing four of these; two-dimensional materials, materials for demanding environments, nuclear materials and biomedical systems and devices.
The design for Manchester’s Royce by NBBJ Architects is intended to allow “science on show”, with areas of the building visible to engage people outside, as well as providing closed, confidential spaces for commercially sensitive research.
The University of Manchester’s design team for the building includes Arcadis, Arup and Ramboll. The main contractor is Laing O’Rourke.
Click image to launch gallery
- Laing O'Rourke completed work on the 10-storey building earlier this year
- NBBJ Architects designed the Henry Royce Institute
Nice to see University of Manchester keeping it bland as usual.
By J
Renders show an odd mix of cartoon-ish massing and cladding, and apparently active ground floors (which is a good thing) – switching focus from quality of cladding to coherent massing and reasons for it i.e. contribution to streetscape and medium-scale views, might create something more successful, good materials would follow.
By jimmythefish
Form follows function? It doesn’t look like it. The form of his building is clearly dictated by the constraints of the plot rather than a desire to foster research excellence or deliver a great piece of urban design or a building with a real civic presence like many of their older buildings. Dire planning once again from Man Uni.
By Reynold
Is this the best we can do design-wise for Manchester? Really?? Another missed opportunity/loss of potential competitive advantage 😐
By MancLad
The uni just don’t care, just look at most of the buildings they’ve commissioned in the last 10 years, most of them are seriously underwhelming and just basically plonked wherever they fit without much thought in terms of how they work together to create a distinctive, uplifting place.
As a student I might be pleased to work in modern facilities but the campus experience is otherwise quite drab; ittle to dustinguish it from any other. Their approach reeks of complacency and lack of ambition.
By Reynold
Perhaps they should just put a giant ‘Flying Lady’ or ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’ on the top facing the City Centre or the South to rival the Liver Birds.
(Joking!)
By Jane Harrad-Roberts
So we need visuals for the Henry Royce Institute. Oh I know, let’s put a Bugatti in the render…
By Anonymous
Where are all the half eaten take aways in these stills? Never seen the streets around there that clean.
By Elephant
I think CGs should have to use modally-average weather conditions. The sky rarely that bright in fair Manchester!
By Zayne
I love the fact we’re picking holes in the renders rather than the awful design.
My favourite is the second image where the cars are driving on the wrong side of the road and all the traffic lights are facing the same direction. (I know it doesn’t matter it’s just an impression, but it shows the level of quality and detail).
By Arnold