Biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has commissioned Herzog & de Meuron to design their new Global R&D Centre and Corporate Headquarters. Planned for the Cambridge Biomedical Campus on the southern outskirts of the city, the new £330m project will be home to one of the company’s three global strategic research and development centres as well as its corporate headquarters.
By featuring an “open design” that is centered around a “hub of labs,” the new campus hopes to foster “exchange and collaboration” throughout the organization and beyond to the wider scientific community.
As Pierre de Meuron described: “Cambridge is a university city with an important historical heritage, not only academic but also architectural and urbanistic. The historical architecture of Cambridge is mostly low-rise with internal courtyards that provide protected environments for people in their study and work. We want some of these qualities to be brought into the new building. Our response to the brief includes intimate spaces for concentration and work, as well as common spaces where everyone meets and comes together. The centre will be a great place for AstraZeneca to work and exchange with the local community of scientists, students and visitors.”
