The University of Oxford has marked the opening of the Beecroft Building, a new 8,950sqm building for experimental and theoretical physics.


World wide web pioneer Sir Tim Berners-Lee and donor Adrian Beecroft joined the Chancellor, Lord Patten of Barnes, and the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Louise Richardson, to officially open the new state-of-the-art facility located in Oxford University’s science area in Parks Road.

The Beecroft Building sits above the deepest basement in Oxford: a 16-metre-deep complex of high-specification laboratories intended to house extremely environmentally sensitive atomic-level experiments that will advance the University’s research into areas such as quantum science and technology, and probe the fundamental laws of nature. The new laboratories are among the very best globally. They can maintain temperature to within a tenth of a degree, and reduce the amount of vibration down to the width of a few atoms. 

The Beecroft Building will accommodate some 200 theoretical and experimental physicists. It has been designed to foster collaborative working in a visually connected, acoustically controlled environment. Offices and collaboration spaces are organised within a five-storey atrium connected by a meandering staircase to enhance social interactions. Breakout spaces are arranged at half levels within the atrium, with informal seating arranged around double-height curved blackboards. These will provide opportunities for group working and serendipitous meetings.

The Beecroft Building provides the most technically advanced facilities and a modern working environment that will transform the way Oxford University’s Department of Physics works.


Text Source: http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2018-09-17-new-%C2%A350m-physics-building-opened-sir-tim-berners-lee#

Designer: VISO Design Studio
Location: Oxford, England