Office/Lab building

The St Pancras Hospital site is being developed by Argent, backed by AustralianSuper in association with Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust to deliver a new eye hospital, laboratory-enabled workspace and new homes.

Argent invited Studio Multi in summer 2022 to submit proposals for a new lab-enabled office building adjacent to the new hospital building.

The building is conceived as a simple volume that sits calmly between the surrounding buildings, characterised by more complex forms. Twelve-storeys high, the building sits below the level of the protected view from Parliament Hill to St Paul’s.

The primary entrance is located centrally, allowing secure through-access between Granary Street and the proposed hospital building to the west. Studio Multi and engineer Whitby Wood have proposed the retention and short relocation of a landmark water tower to a new square at the centre of the masterplan.

The building has a hybrid structure in timber and concrete to reduce carbon, and the Passivhaus-certifiable design has an environmentally responsive façade to actively control heat gain. In section, the building has efficient office and laboratory floors sandwiched between shared spaces at ground floor and roof level. The ground floor is permeable and acts as a continuation of the landscape.

The top floor of the building includes a technical deck, meeting rooms and a viewing terrace, capitalising on the spectacular city views. The roof is inhabited by an urban farm with an associated greenhouse and a café, accessed via a dedicated lift from the ground.

TEAM

Client: Argent / AustralianSuper

Structures: Whitby Wood

Building Services and Passivhaus: Inside-Outside Engineering

Visualisations: Nuvillu

Studio Multi team: Nicola Rutt, Seth Rutt, Rasmus Pikk, Alfie Gee