University of York – Management School

The former pharmaceutical building has been extensively remodelled with a complex labyrinth of cellular internal spaces opened up to create large internal volumes which utilise skylights to bring natural daylight into the deep building plan.

The reuse of the existing building’s shell significantly reduced the carbon footprint associated with demolishing and creating a new build. Skylights include opening panels to provide natural ventilation from double and triple height spaces, assisted by the natural buoyancy of warm air and opening windows, for a mixed mode summer ventilation strategy. The teaching rooms which are susceptible to higher internal gains (due to higher occupancy) are located on the north elevation where they are not subject to unwanted solar gains.

The design approach establishes a hierarchy of spaces, with a public spine running through the centre of the building, and private, cellar office and study spaces arranged around the perimeter. The interface between these is moderated by departmental reception areas, breakout spaces, and open plan spaces for informal or unprogrammed working, and enjoying the benefit of borrowed natural daylight. This approach also creates an obvious legibility and aids wayfinding in a large, mixed occupancy building. DLA undertook interior design including the design of interior wall graphics, which further enhanced the visual supremacy of this main route, leading visitors through the building via a series of waypoints from where onward journey’s are sign posted.

The materials palette employed is rich and diverse, with natural timber supplemented with a range of infill materials including biophilic moss green walls. These panels provide a consistent, high-quality aesthetic throughout the scheme, as well as serving as acoustic absorption to address reverberation in the larger volumetric spaces.

The project’s challenges arose from the unknown condition of the existing building, a former laboratory potentially contaminated with chemical, biological, and radioactive compounds. The requirement for specialist removal and decontamination of traps and filters limited access initially. Major discrepancies between hand-drawn records and the actual structure required a flexible approach, adapting original proposals to fit spatial and structural constraints as they became clear.

The construction drawings evolved as part of this iterative process, prioritising the overarching design language, typical room types, and plan legibility. Adjustments, like moving a lift core to avoid obstructions, were accepted if they did not compromise key design elements.

The building now sits within a newly landscaped setting which has been carefully considered to open up views of and access to the building whilst retaining existing mature trees. By significantly reducing the number of existing car parking spaces in favour of extensive new cycle parking and EV charging bays, we have been able to provide new soft landscaping areas which improve the ecological value of the site whilst also creating outdoor seating and amenity spaces for group gatherings and external working.