Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children

Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children At the Zayed Centre for Research into Rare Disease in Children, the healthcare environment has been reimagined as a shared civic experience in the heart of London’s Bloomsbury Conservation Area. Designed for Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College London, the 13,000sqm facility combines pioneering translational research with clinical care and is the first purpose-built paediatric centre of its kind in the world. From its symbolic central London location, the public-facing research facility celebrates the often ‘invisible’ work of researchers and clinicians and their vital contribution to society. Facing Coram’s Fields - a site dedicated to children’s welfare for over 250 years – the building invites views into a 600sqm double-height laboratory and engages science and healthcare with urban life. Placing science on show, the principal laboratory at the base of the building is visible from all sides within the Centre as well as from the street outside. A shared single entrance bridge, which passes above this laboratory, welcomes both research staff and patients, drawing them into a central atrium, flooded with light. A transparent ground floor gives visibility and prominence to the activities inside the laboratory, while carefully articulated terracotta fins and glazing address Coram’s Fields and reflect the changing sky - expressing the civic significance of this ground-breaking institution. Inside, the Zayed Centre for Research is organised around two connected ‘hearts’, an outpatient zone and a research zone, each planned as layered volumes around a daylit atrium. Across eight storeys the building provides outpatient clinics for children and young people, a manufacturing unit for gene and cell therapies, specialist laboratories and research workspace, together with seminar and meeting spaces. The brief prioritised the experience of children and building users, alongside the values of collaboration, curiosity and innovation. The visionary architectural approach challenges the technical and clinical character of healthcare buildings by placing the human experience at the heart of science and care. Generosity of space, natural light and a ‘non-clinical ’architectural language create an uplifting and shared human experience. Throughout, specially commissioned artwork by Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Arts programme, further enhances the environment shared by researchers, clinical staff, patients and families alike, in the endeavour to understand and overcome the impact of life-changing diseases. Seeking to deliver ground-breaking health outcomes, while championing social value, sustainability and wellbeing, the BREEAM Excellent Zayed Centre for Research is a compelling demonstration that achieving high environmental aspirations is possible even for a complex, highly serviced building of this nature. The building's overall heating and cooling demand has been reduced and in doing so it achieves a significant reduction in CO2 emissions, 37% below the UK Building Regulations baseline in this technically demanding healthcare and research facility.