The Alan Turing Building, named after the
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
and founder of
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical com ...
, is a building at the
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
, in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, England. It houses the
School of Mathematics
The Department of Mathematics at the University of Manchester is one of the largest unified mathematics departments in the United Kingdom, with over 90 academic staff and an undergraduate intake of roughly 400 students per year (including students ...
, the Photon Science Institute and the
Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics
The Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester, is among the largest astrophysics groups in the UK. It includes the Jodrell Bank Observatory, the MERLIN/VLBI National Facility, and the Jodrell Bank Visitor Centre. The ...
(part of the
School of Physics and Astronomy). The building is located in the
Chorlton-on-Medlock
Chorlton-on-Medlock or Chorlton-upon-Medlock is an inner city area of Manchester, England.
Historically in Lancashire, Chorlton-on-Medlock is bordered to the north by the River Medlock, which runs immediately south of Manchester city centre. It ...
district of Manchester, on Upper Brook Street, and is adjacent to University Place and the
Henry Royce Institute
The Henry Royce Institute (often referred to as ‘Royce’) is the UK’s national institute for advanced materials research and innovation. Its vision is to identify challenges and to stimulate innovation in advanced materials research to suppo ...
. While under construction the project was known as AMPPS : Astronomy, Mathematics, Physics and Photon Science. The building was shortlisted for the Greater Manchester Building of the Year 2008 prize, which is awarded by the Greater Manchester
Chamber of Commerce
A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...
.
The manager of the building project was awarded a silver medal in the
Chartered Institute of Building "Construction Manager of the Year" awards.
Architecture
The £43
m building was completed in July 2007, and was designed by
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
s Sheppard Robson.
It consists of three "fingers", each of which are four stories high. The building is of
steel frame
Steel frame is a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal I-beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame. The developm ...
construction, with
reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...
stairwells, and grey
zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
exterior cladding.
The northern two fingers are joined by an
atrium
Atrium may refer to:
Anatomy
* Atrium (heart), an anatomical structure of the heart
* Atrium, the genital structure next to the genital aperture in the reproductive system of gastropods
* Atrium of the ventricular system of the brain
* Pulmona ...
, which is spanned by a series of bridges. The southernmost finger was designed to hold low vibration
laboratories
A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physici ...
, and is joined by a glazed bridge at third-floor level to the middle finger.
An 'over-sailing' roof structure connects the three fingers acting as a suspension system for a
photovoltaic array
A photovoltaic system, also PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and co ...
/solar shading using
thin film
A thin film is a layer of material ranging from fractions of a nanometer (monolayer) to several micrometers in thickness. The controlled synthesis of materials as thin films (a process referred to as deposition) is a fundamental step in many ap ...
technology. This photovoltaic array is designed to produce nearly 41
megawatt hours per annum, a saving of 17,000 kilograms of
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...
each year.
At the time of completion this was the largest photovoltaic array in
North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
, and helped the architects to win an award for "Business Commitment to the Environment".
One condition for
planning approval was that the project included corridors for pedestrian access and visual transparency between Upper Brook Street and
Oxford Road. This was to counter complaints by the residents of Brunswick, on the other side of Upper Brook Street, that previous university developments seemed to be creating a wall to them. The pedestrian walkway between the second and third finger, and the transparent atrium met these demands. This follows the line of an earlier street, when the site was a residential area, and when reopened will run from Upper Brook Street to Oxford Road and is called "Wilton Street", as it was historically.
![Alan Turing Building 9](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Alan_Turing_Building_9.jpg)
In the 1960s many mathematics departments were housed in
high-rise building
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...
s including the Mathematics Tower at the
Victoria University of Manchester
The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Afte ...
, and the
Maths and Social Sciences Building
The Maths and Social Sciences Building is a high-rise tower in Manchester, England. It was part of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) until that university merged with the Victoria University of Manchester ...
at
UMIST
The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research. On 1 Oct ...
. These proved completely unsuited to the activities of a mathematics department (and arguably any academic department) as travel between floors in lifts (and uninviting stairways) discourages interaction between mathematicians resulting from chance encounter. Buildings such as the Mathematics Institute at
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...
(at East Site and later the Zeeman Building) and the
Isaac Newton Institute
The Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences is an international research institute for mathematics and its many applications at the University of Cambridge. It is named after one of the university's most illustrious figures, the mathema ...
at Cambridge are deliberately low-rise and designed to encourage chance encounter. The Alan Turing Building was designed with substantial input from the mathematicians and the design reflects this including a large open plan common room on the atrium bridge, open corridors and walkways and the relocation of the best traditional
blackboard
A blackboard (also known as a chalkboard) is a reusable writing surface on which text or drawings are made with sticks of calcium sulphate or calcium carbonate, known, when used for this purpose, as chalk. Blackboards were originally made of ...
s from the old buildings.
Occupancy and facilities
![Alan Turing building atrium July 2007](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Alan_Turing_building_atrium_July_2007.jpg)
The Photon Science Institute occupies the southernmost finger, with the northern two fingers housing Mathematics on the first three floors and the
Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics
The Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester, is among the largest astrophysics groups in the UK. It includes the Jodrell Bank Observatory, the MERLIN/VLBI National Facility, and the Jodrell Bank Visitor Centre. The ...
on the third and fourth floors. The ground floor atrium constitutes a public space including a small
café
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...
called ''Pi in the Sky''.
Surrounding the atrium on the ground floor are the undergraduate common room for mathematics, as well as lecture rooms and undergraduate computer rooms. The first and second floor of the first two fingers mainly house the offices of academic staff and postgraduate students in mathematics, as well as the ''Manchester Institute for Mathematical Science'' (MIMS) conference areas. One of seminar rooms is named after the topologist
Frank Adams
John Frank Adams (5 November 1930 – 7 January 1989) was a British mathematician, one of the major contributors to homotopy theory.
Life
He was born in Woolwich, a suburb in south-east London, and attended Bedford School. He began researc ...
, and the library after algebraist
Brian Hartley
Brian Hartley (15 May 1939 – 8 October 1994) was a British mathematician specialising in group theory.
Education
Hartley's PhD thesis was completed in 1964 at the University of Cambridge under Philip Hall's supervision.
Career and research
...
. Lecture theatres are named after
Mordell
Louis Joel Mordell (28 January 1888 – 12 March 1972) was an American-born British mathematician, known for pioneering research in number theory. He was born in Philadelphia, United States, in a Jewish family of Lithuanian extraction.
Educatio ...
,
Richardson
Richardson may refer to:
People
* Richardson (surname), an English and Scottish surname
* Richardson Gang, a London crime gang in the 1960s
* Richardson Dilworth, Mayor of Philadelphia (1956-1962)
Places Australia
* Richardson, Australian Cap ...
,
Max Newman
Maxwell Herman Alexander Newman, FRS, (7 February 1897 – 22 February 1984), generally known as Max Newman, was a British mathematician and codebreaker. His work in World War II led to the construction of Colossus, the world's first operatio ...
and
Lighthill. A meeting room is named after
Horace Lamb
Sir Horace Lamb (27 November 1849 – 4 December 1934)R. B. Potts,, ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 5, MUP, 1974, pp 54–55. Retrieved 5 Sep 2009 was a British applied mathematician and author of several influential texts on ...
and the
Access Grid room after
Sydney Goldstein
Sydney Goldstein FRS (3 December 1903, Kingston upon Hull – 22 January 1989, Cambridge, MA) was a British mathematician noted for his contribution to fluid dynamics. He is described as: "... one of those who most influenced progress in fluid d ...
. The bridge across the atrium is the common room for mathematics academics and graduate students, where morning coffee is served.
The third floor houses the academic offices of the
Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics
The Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester, is among the largest astrophysics groups in the UK. It includes the Jodrell Bank Observatory, the MERLIN/VLBI National Facility, and the Jodrell Bank Visitor Centre. The ...
, which provides a new base for the research activities in astronomy and astrophysics with the relocation of many staff and students from
Jodrell Bank Observatory
Jodrell Bank Observatory () in Cheshire, England, hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio astron ...
. The Observatory now forms part of the JBCA and provides leading observational facilities such as the
Lovell Telescope
The Lovell Telescope is a radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Goostrey, Cheshire in the north-west of England. When construction was finished in 1957, the telescope was the largest steerable dish radio telescope in the world at 76 ...
and the
Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network
Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and leg ...
(MERLIN). This floor differs in design from the others in that the rooms have windows onto the atrium and glass walls to central corridors in each wing whilst retaining glass walled walkways across the atrium. The astrophysics seminar room is named after Sir
Bernard Lovell
Sir Alfred Charles Bernard Lovell (31 August 19136 August 2012) was an English physicist and radio astronomer. He was the first director of Jodrell Bank Observatory, from 1945 to 1980.
Early life and education
Lovell was born at Oldland Comm ...
, founder of
Jodrell Bank Observatory
Jodrell Bank Observatory () in Cheshire, England, hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio astron ...
. The fourth floor contains a number of labs, an RFI screened room and clean room, all for astrophysics instrumentation construction, such as receivers for the
Lovell Telescope
The Lovell Telescope is a radio telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Goostrey, Cheshire in the north-west of England. When construction was finished in 1957, the telescope was the largest steerable dish radio telescope in the world at 76 ...
and the
Planck spacecraft
''Planck'' was a space observatory operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) from 2009 to 2013, which mapped the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at microwave and infrared frequencies, with high sensitivity and small angu ...
. In January 2008 the Project Design Office for the
Square Kilometre Array
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an intergovernmental international radio telescope project being built in Australia (low-frequency) and South Africa (mid-frequency). The combining infrastructure, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKA ...
relocated to Manchester to be hosted by the JBCA, co-ordinating the global efforts in constructing the next generation radio telescope.
The Photon Science Institute houses laboratories shielded from electromagnetic radiation and resistant to vibration, and features instruments such as a broadband
sum frequency spectrometer, and a spectroscopic photon echo measurement kit.
A bridge on the third floor connects from Astrophysics to the Photon Science Institute, but retaining that finger's resistance to mechanical vibration.
References
External links
Alan Turing Building, School of MathematicsPhoton Science InstituteJodrell Bank Centre for AstrophysicsSquare Kilometre Array Radio Telescope
{{Manchester B&S
Buildings at the University of Manchester
School buildings completed in 2007
Alan Turing
2007 establishments in England