2012 RIBA Stirling Prize Winner – Sainsbury Laboratory

Stanton Williams’ Sainsbury Laboratory has won the 2012 RIBA Stirling Prize. The winner was announced at a special event in Manchester on Saturday 13th October. The building is situated on the northern edge of the University of Cambridge’s Botanic Gardens.

An architectural promenade forms the heart of a building which celebrates botanical research through interaction, communication and a connection with nature. From the front to the back, the building progresses from a grand, colonnaded façade to an open balcony and glazed public café, set within a botanic garden.

At ground level the entrance gently ramps down through the auditorium and meeting areas. At the upper level the scientists work on illuminated stages, with research and write-up areas forming the ends of two promenades, flanked by small spontaneous brainstorming spaces.

Sustainability through flexibility in long-term use is achieved through an

adaptable façade behind the limestone pillar façade, enabling the research spaces to grow and change as required by the scientists. Despite the high energy demands of laboratories, the building has achieved a BREEAM excellent rating, aided by 1,000 square metres of photovoltaic panels and extensive natural lighting even in the laboratories. These top-lit labs are arranged on one floor in an L-shape, encouraging interaction between scientists.

This building is an exciting new typology, with spaces for research juxtaposed with those for education, the private and the public and the highly-technological nurture of nature with the simple enjoyment of an extended botanic garden.

Architect:                   Stanton Williams

Client:                        University of Cambridge

Sainsbury Laboratory video

Alan Stanton talks about the botanic gardens’ historical with Charles Darwin and John Henslow and the challenges of creating a new building to house the Herbarium Collection in such an ecologically sensitive environment.

Location details

The Sainsbury Laboratory is located on the northern edge of the University of Cambridge’s botanic gardens, approximately 2 miles from Cambridge city centre and half a mile from Cambridge rail station.

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