napp-laboratories: Napp Laboratories, Cambridge, England
Pharmaceutical Complex and Research Centre
Designed 1979
Napp Labs was the winning design in an international competition for a pharmaceutical products plant with facilities for manufacturing and warehousing liquid and solid preparations for medical purposes. Other facilities included offices, research and development laboratories and reception areas.
Located in a Science Park owned by Cambridge University, its two parallel blocks nestle in a bowl of land formed by the overpass of the Cambridge North Road. The main southwestern block houses manufacturing space on the ground floor and laboratories on the second with the first floor reserved purely for services, so that alterations can be made to spaces above or below without undue disruption.
Designed as a low-profile structure, the building's series of concrete arches were originally of steel but changed to white concrete at the request of the client. The linear structure of the building allows for virtually unlimited extension and internal flexibility, while the sloping glazed curtain wall effects an aesthetically pleasing ‘soft transition’ between building and sky. The design for this complex takes great care to harmonize with the pastoral characteristics of the landscape. The building itself reflects the bank by hugging the ground, while the placement of the buildings complement the existing hedgerows, as does the planting of rows of hawthorns and poplar against long earth banks to screen parking, recreational and garden areas. The use of a canal alongside the building serves to recall the association of building with water in the historic Cambridge area.
Four years after the completion of the building, work was begun on a six bay extension to the office block, providing three floors of extra office space. At the same time work was begun on a Research Centre that will contain three floors of laboratory spaces in a basement level.
Photo of entrance by Timothy Hursley
See "Interiors and Furnishings" section for more Napp Laboratories
