The New Architecture of Science

The following sections are included:

• Dedication
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Preamble

Graphene is the first two-dimensional crystal available to us, which was obtained experimentally only in 2003–2004. Very soon after its first experimental isolation it became clear that this material will open a broad scope of research directions, which still grows even to these days (these words were written in early 2019). Among the most active fields are the applications in energy (batteries and supercapacitors), electronics, optoelectronics, composite materials, nanomedicine. Even a simple list looks very broad and, may be, eclectic, but there is a very strong progress in the development of all those directions. There are several reasons for that…

Before we proceed to the explanations of the rationale behind the particular design solutions of the NGI, it is important to understand the administrative structure which exists in the University. Most academics in the University of Manchester are employed by a particular school: School of Physics and Astronomy, School of Computer Science, School of Material Science, etc. The way academics are divided into schools is mainly determined by the teaching activity. It happens often that in terms of their research activities academics from different schools are closer together than academics within one school. A couple of examples to demonstrate this: physicists who work in the area of non-linear dynamics would tend to collaborate more with people from the School of Mathematics; astronomers who design new detectors would have intimate relations with the school of Electrical Engineering. Institutes within the University act as “clubs,” which assemble together researchers from different disciplines and are designed exactly to solve these discrepancies, gathering people by the projects, not on the basis of their teaching.11 Researchers are attracted to the institutes because of access to shared facilities (which do not exist in the individual schools) and because of the ability to do collaborative, often cross-disciplinary, research and transfer technology between different projects…

Another consequence of the location chosen (which is by itself a consequence of the proximity requirements) is the shape of the building. The small size of the plot of land available at the location chosen, and the prerequisite to minimise the number of floors (due to both cost and internal traffic implications) dictated that the building should occupy the whole area available. This explains the square shape of the building (Fig. 9)…

Most operations in the field of nanotechnology and nanoelectronics are extremely sensitive to vibrations: production of devices which are only few atoms in size or imaging on the subatomic scale require extreme stability. Luckily, the bedrock on the site of the NGI is located at relatively low depth (6–8 metres), so the decision was made to dig down to the bedrock, establish an additional foundation on top of that and locate the most vibration-sensitive equipment right on top of that foundation. This way the clean room ended up in the basement…

The clean rooms and the labs require a lot of services. Probably the most important are the airhandling units which bring air from outside, clean it from dust particles, cool it down to reduce the absolute humidity and then warms back again to the required temperature (21°C) to supply inside of the clean room. Apart from that there are solvent and acid vapour extract (which should be cleaned with scrubbers), process cooling water, ultra-pure water loop, compressed air, supply of multiple (21) gases, etc. (Fig. 10)…

There are other important factors which have been taken into consideration early on during the design stage. Such fundamental constrains impact strongly on the design and pretty much determine the final look of the building. Below we will consider some of these constrains.…

The design of the storage rooms and the delivery bay deserves a special attention. The reason is that in the NGI the store has multiple functions. Apart of regular delivery of goods, it also manages supply of chemicals, gases, liquid nitrogen, sending back the chemical waste. In the NGI all of this is managed by one person, so the store should be quite ergonomically organised.…

The major component of the Institute is the clean room with a total area of about 1,500sqm. All the nanotechnology processing is done in such laboratories where temperature, humidity, vibrations, air contamination are strictly controlled. This is absolutely necessary when dealing with devices much smaller than the thickness of a human hair. The change of temperature even by a degree would change the chemical and mechanical processes involved in the fabrication of nanodevices and will lead to mistakes and make results non-reproducible. The same can be said about humidity, dust and vibrations…

The NGI has two types of labs in addition to the clean room: specialised enclosed labs and open shared labs. The open space labs are not specialised, in a sense that those have an easy access only to the standard set of services distributed through the adjacent grey space. At the same time, some of the labs are highly specialised: they enjoy special services in addition to the standard set…

The nature of the scientific work prohibits one to predict the experiments one would be doing in a year’s time. Instead, a prediction could be made that very likely new experiments will be conducted in the research institute on a regular basis. This creates a necessity of equipment rotation — old one moved out and the new one moved in. Also, quite often equipment vendors and manufacturers are willing to lend their equipment to the Institute for a period from a few weeks to a couple of years, with a view of attracting the large community of researchers in the new capabilities. This creates additional traffic. Easy access to the loading bay and then to the spacious goods lift ensures easy access to the building. This should be matched by the equally easy transportations routes through the building itself…

Generally, robust architecture of most buildings sets the functions very rigidly. Instead, the architectural style of the NGI was set to be dynamic, supporting future changes. Similarly, flexibility dominates the current layout of the building — most spaces are designed to be multifunctional and easily convertible to fulfil additional tasks. For instance, the open space lab (discussed in chapter 8b) can be easily configured to accept equipment of any geometry, and proximity to the grey space allows easy access to services distributed from there…

The roof garden was a bit of a fluke; however, now it plays a significant role in the operation of the building (Fig. 60). During the design stage the main building and the CUB were developed in parallel, and their relative footprint was held in such a way that both buildings would occupy the same number of floors. The optimum was four floors in the CUB. Financially, however, it wasn’t possible to complete the whole 3rd floor of the main building, so we ended up with the half-floor being built up and half floor being just an empty roof. The idea came to design a roof garden, which would also help to earn the valuable BREEAM points, which are absolutely vital to secure the funding from European Regional Development Fund. Gaining ecologically-friendly status was crucially important.…

Another way to make people talk and engage in multidisciplinary research is through the design of the atria and the open spaces.

Scientists are encouraged to participate spontaneously in discussions and improvised meetings. Many walls in the labs and corridors are made from a special plastic (“White Rock”) and are writable (with liquid chalk). This is supposed to promote spontaneous discussions and offers a possibility to arrange mini seminars in the sitting areas. Apart of the main conference room on the top floor and the board room on the 2nd floor, there are several sitting areas, two of which have access to the writable walls…

Scientist approach

The overall motto for the design of the NGI is "flexibility and collaboration." Flexibility is of crucial importance for any researchintensive building (as witnessed in a number of chapters above). It is in the nature of science that it is impossible to predict the future developments. Furthermore — the more unpredictable and volatile your research is — the better. Nobody has got the recipe how to promote the generation of a new idea, but at least the environment should not be prohibitive for such new developments. It is in the nature of scientific research to try novel approaches or even completely new directions every now and then, and the more often we do it (providing there is some scientific rationale behind such trials) — the more chance we have to step into new, unexplored territories. The typical timescale of such trials is months/years…

Apart from the storages and future-proof spaces outside of the building, there are a number of other arrangements which should allow smooth operation of the building for years ahead…

Tracing the making of the NGI building and the first years of its existence, this book offered insights into the specificity of this scientific lab and its social life. Drawing on careful analysis of the various facilities at the NGI, as well as the various ways they are experienced, we can witness that as a modern laboratory, the graphene building provides a vital setting for the active shaping of new research habits. It facilitates the development of new partnerships between science, society and industry. Architecture, we demonstrated here, matters for graphene research and helps to accelerate its course.…

The following section is included:

• Index