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In this showroom and laboratory for future homes, radical approaches to new construction methods are fabricated, tested, and showcased. Located across from the Houses of Parliament, the Institute is intended as a new landmark for London’s changing built environment.
Recognising that any sea-change in human habits typically needs be proactively encouraged through demonstration and uptake, the building weaves a public journey through workshops and prototyping labs, championing the early-adoption of new technologies and protocols in sustainable urban living.
The material, structural, and formal language of the building has been developed through a series of iterative construction prototypes to explore alternative methods of forming large spans and lightweight envelopes.
The organisation of the building was tested at a variety of scales to ensure that the overall massing could achieve a ‘landmark’ without compromising the functioning of the workshop spaces.
The rigging tower provides verticality to an otherwise low-rise mass. At the top sits a viewing deck and conference suite overlooking the operations of the wider campus.