NBBJ clads University of Oxford science building in rippling stone panels
Rippling stone panels based on the shape of a brainwave clad the Life and Mind Building at the University of Oxford, completed by architecture studio NBBJ.
Bringing together departments of biology and experimental psychology, the Life and Mind Building combines teaching spaces and lecture halls with research laboratories and offices.
NBBJ designed the 25,000-square-metre building for Oxford University Development – a partnership between the university and Legal & General. It is among the largest projects ever undertaken by the institution.
The building comprises five storeys organised around a full-height, glazed atrium at its centre, described by the studio as a "social and spatial spine" that unites communal, research and teaching spaces via balconies and terraces.
This glazed atrium acts as a linking volume for the centre's two wings, which form a V-shape around an entrance plaza, where stepped planting and a cylindrical glass elevator allow entry into both the ground and lower ground floors.
"Conceived as a living framework for discovery, the building's architecture choreographs movement, light, and interaction across a series of interconnected levels," said the practice.
Externally, the Life and Mind Building's outward-facing elevations have been finished with chunky, stone-clad mullions, between which are windows framed by dark brown ribbed metal panels and fins.
Above the entrance are stone panels imprinted with a rippling surface pattern, which was derived from a two-second brainwave reading taken by research fellow Sage Boettcher.
"It serves as both a time capsule of scientific progress and a poetic expression of the building's purpose: to explore the mind, nature, and the systems that connect them," said NBBJ.
A sawtooth roof tops the centre's western wing, while the eastern wing is crowned by the central glazed atrium extending to form a volume of workspaces opening onto an external terrace shaded by large stone-clad louvres.
According to NBBJ, occupants of the building are "never more than one level away" from green space – be it the planted entrance plaza and roof terrace or a series of potted trees in the atrium.
"This biophilic strategy is integral to the building's ethos of the ‘life and mind'," said the studio. "It supports mental wellbeing, enhances air quality, and reinforces the building's ecological identity."
The completion of the Life and Mind building closely follows the opening of the 25,300-square-metre Schwarzman Centre at the University of Oxford, which was designed by London studio Hopkins Architects and is clad in traditional Clipsham stone.
Elsewhere at the university, Wright & Wright recently added a "calm and confident" extension to Corpus Christi College Library.
The photography is by Ty Cole unless otherwise stated.
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