The Blizard Building is a building in

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It houses the Blizard Institute, formerly known as the Blizard Institute of Cell and Molecular Science, part of

Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry , mottoeng = Temper the bitter things in life with a smile , parent = Queen Mary University of London , president = Lord Mayor of London , head_label = Warden , head = Mark Caulfield , students = 3,410 , undergrad = 2,23 ...

. The building is named after

William Blizard Sir William Blizard FRS FRSE PRCS FSA (1 March 1743 – 27 August 1835) was an English surgeon. Life He was born in Barn Elms, Surrey, the fourth child of auctioneer William Blizard. After an apprenticeship to a surgeon and apothecary in Mortl ...

, who founded the

London Hospital Medical College Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, commonly known as Barts or BL, is a medical school, medical and dental school in London, England. The school is part of Queen Mary University of London, a constituent college of the federal Un ...

in 1785.

History

The building was commissioned in Autumn 2000, and designed by the architect

Will Alsop William Allen Alsop (12 December 1947 – 12 May 2018) was a British architect and Professor of Architecture at University for the Creative Arts's Canterbury School of Architecture. He was responsible for several distinctive and controversia ...

. Construction began in November 2003, with AMEC as the main contractor, and was completed in March 2005, at a cost of £45 million. It was officially opened in October 2005 by

The Princess Royal Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been sev ...

. Construction on a £2 million extension in the form of a Neuron Pod began in April 2018 and was completed in March 2019. This extension, also designed by Alsop, was one of his last works, as he died one month after construction began.

Design

The building consists of two glass-clad and steel-framed pavilions, separated by a central yard, and connected to each other by a multi-coloured glass walkway. The glass cladding of the pavilions includes some coloured panels designed by the artist Bruce McLean, depicting images inspired by molecular science. The walkway also provides access to the Neuron Pod, a free standing steel structure located at the northern end of the central yard. The pod is modelled on a nerve cell, and covered with hundred of plastic filaments, designed to look like hairs. These filaments are illuminated by

optical fibres An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means t ...

powered by projectors inside the pod. The larger, eastern pavilion contains a large, open void, allowing light natural light to reach the open-plan research laboratories located on the lower ground floor. Four, smaller, multipurpose pods of various shapes and sizes are suspended above this void. The smaller, narrower western pavilion houses the electrical and mechanical machinery required to power the building, hidden behind a zinc cladding system. The building was awarded the 2006

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

award and the 2006

Civic Trust Award The Civic Trust Awards scheme was established in 1959 to recognise outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment. As the longest standing built environment awards scheme in Europe, since 1959, more than 7000 projects have ...

Facilities

The eastern pavilion contains the main research facilities, including the underground laboratories, as well as office spaces and study areas. The western pavilion contains the main entrance, a waiting area, a café, additional research facilities and a 400-seat lecture theatre. The Neuron Pod located in between the two pavilions is home to the Centre of the Cell, a science education centre specifically aimed at children. The centre was opened by Blue Peter presenter

Helen Skelton Helen Elizabeth Skelton (born 19 July 1983) is an English television presenter and Actor, actress. She co-presented the BBC children's programme ''Blue Peter'' from 2008 until 2013, and since 2014 has been a presenter on ''Countryfile''. She als ...

in September 2009 and was initially located in one of the smaller pods within the main research building, but was relocated upon completion of the Neuron Pod in 2019. It is the first science education centre in the world to be located within biomedical research laboratories, and is aimed at getting children from the local area interested in science and research.

In popular culture

In the third episode of the third series of the BBC crime drama ''

Luther Luther may refer to: People * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation * Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement * Luther (give ...

'', broadcast in 2013, the Blizard Building was used as the filming location for a scene in which DCI John Luther (

Idris Elba Idrissa Akuna Elba (; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor.

) meets Mary Day (

Sienna Guillory Sienna Tiggy Guillory (; born 16 March 1975) is an English actress and former model. She portrayed Jill Valentine in several entries of the ''Resident Evil'' action-horror film series. Other prominent roles include elf princess Arya Dröttningu ...

References

External links

Blizard Institute website

Centre of the Cell website
{{Queen Mary University of London Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry Biological research institutes in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures completed in 2005 Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Genetics in the United Kingdom Education in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Recipients of Civic Trust Awards Research institutes in London Whitechapel Will Alsop buildings