Description

The Life Sciences Complex is located at the fringe of the Negev Desert. The premises are located at the southeastern corner of the main campus; to the west a number of gardens follow at lower levels. To the south, the site is linked to the new Medical School Building via a bridge. To the north, the scheme connects to an access route that grows wider like a funnel. The route defines the position of the individual buildings in relation to each other, forms the base of the urban layout and circulation within the complex.

The three to six-storey complex comprises three closely arranged and connected building volumes grouped around a shared courtyard. Each volume accommodates a different independent institute: to the north, the University Department of Life Sciences, to the south and east the Institute of Biotech Applied Research, and to the west the Life Sciences Student Laboratories. All three institutes do research in the field of water balance of organisms under desert conditions from a microbiological, physiological, and ecological point of view.

The independent volumes of each facility comprise their own faculty offices, laboratories, and lecture and seminar rooms and share a basement level with facilities used by all institutes. The resulting synergy effects help to reduce costs for expensive scientific apparatuses and considerable maintenance costs. The close proximity of different individual disciplines encourages the efficient exchange of ideas and supports flexible cooperation.

More than the notion of scientific cooperation and communication, the extreme desert climate defines the introverted architectural expression of the complex. In keeping with the functional unity of the building, the consistent pigmented in-situ concrete is to create a monolithic and sculptural appearance. Narrow window slots penetrate the compact building envelope and dim down the light. Hence, the seminar and laboratory spaces – which are lit artificially and hardly require daylight anyway – could be positioned next to the exterior façade. The offices open up towards the courtyard, which provides shade and natural cooling.

The laboratories were designed with particular attention to a modular structure that can be flexibly adapted to future layouts from individual laboratories to open plan spaces.

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Originally published in: Hardo Braun, Dieter Grömling, Research and Technology Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2005.