University of York

Designed to accommodate sophisticated imaging equipment the Eleanor & Guy Dodson Building requires a highly controlled and stable internal environment. The building houses a Cryo Electron Microscope able to magnify to near atomic scale. This is very sensitive to minute movements and so needs to be isolated from both ground and air borne vibrations. The facility also provides a new home for the University’s Nuclear Magnetic Resonator (NMR), a machine that generates powerful magnetic fields that can both affect, and be affected by, magnetic items surrounding it. Further imaging equipment and labs are also housed within the building.

To provide a shared home for these potentially conflicting uses, the design is conceived as three completely separated elements. Two double height “boxes” house the C-EM and NMR respectively. These are both joined, and separated, by a two storey block that accommodates the other facilities at ground floor and the buildings extensive services plant at the upper floor. The three parts are constructed to be physically independent. The C-EM lab has very heavy foundations whilst the NMR lab is built without using ferrous elements.

The building’s uses require very limited windows so the design strategy is to clearly express the separate volumes to provide its architectural identity. The double height labs are clearly articulated from the remainder of the building.

Stephen Hill Architects were initially appointed by the University of York to carry out a feasibility study for a new building and then to submit a detailed planning application. Subsequently the practice has developed the detailed design for the successful D&B contractor Simpson (York) Ltd. The building is currently under construction and is scheduled for completion in June 2020.

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