STOCKHOLM, Jun 15, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) —
Five international consortia of architect and landscaping companies will
compete to make the architectural design of buildings and landscape at
the future European Spallation Source research centre.
The ESS, to be built in southern Sweden, will be one of the world’s
largest research facilities when operational in 2019, and an important
hub in European research infrastructure. The architectural design of the
buildings will be vital for the visual impression of the research centre
and for the scientific and technical functions, as well as for the
integration into the surrounding landscape and the future Science
Village.
Therefore, a design contest has been organised with the aim of
developing the best architectural and landscaping ideas for the future
ESS facility. Five international consortia of highly recognised
architect and landscaping companies have now been selected to submit
design proposals:
– Bethem Crouwel, West8, Arup, Mandaworks
– Bjarke Ingels Group, HOK International Limited, Topotek1/man made land
– Foster + Partners, Peter Walker and Partners, Research Facilities
Design, Ramboll Group, Berg/CF Moller Architects
– Henning Larsen Architects A/S, COBE ApS, SLA A/S, NNE Pharmaplan A/S
– Tengbom, Mecanoo Architecten, Buro Happold
– I am impressed with the high quality of the contestants. This is an
exciting step for us. Our ambition is to develop an excellent
architectural design that will reflect values of ESS and its importance
in the European scientific landscape, says Colin Carlile, the ESS
Director-General.
– In the 21st century, large-scale science centres cannot look like
factories or be profligate with energy, but must be built to focus on
sustainability, to create an attractive working atmosphere and to
integrate well into the surroundings.
The contest task consists of developing and presenting design ideas for
the site layout and buildings for the ESS facility, and the surrounding
landscaping. The completed proposals will be submitted on 28 September.
A jury will evaluate the proposals on the basis of several criteria:
architectural design qualities, flexibility, economic and functional
feasibility, safety and sustainability. At the end of October, the
winning design will be announced. It is the intention of the ESS company
to negotiate a post-contest assignment with the winning contestant.
The five consortia have been selected from amongst a total of 23
submitted requests to participate from international consortia of
architect companies by a jury.
ESS IN SHORT:
The European Spallation Source — the next generation facility for
materials research and life science
The European Spallation Source (ESS) will be a multi-disciplinary
research laboratory based on the world’s most powerful neutron source.
ESS can be likened to a large microscope, where neutrons are used
instead of light to study materials — ranging from polymers and
pharmaceuticals to membranes and molecules — to gain knowledge about
their structure and function. ESS will be around 30 times better than
existing facilities, opening up new possibilities for researchers in for
example health, environment, climate, energy, transport sciences and
cultural heritage. ESS is an intergovernmental research infrastructure
project, and it will be built in Lund in southern Scandinavia. Currently
17 European countries are Partners in the ESS project, and will take
part in the construction, financing and operation of the ESS. Sweden and
Denmark will co-host the ESS and cover 50 percent of the 1,4 BEUR
investment costs and 20 percent of the operating costs together with the
Nordic and Baltic states. The European Spallation Source ESS AB is a
public limited company, today owned by the Swedish and the Danish
states. ESS AB is currently working on finalizing the ESS technical
design, planning the future research at ESS, preparing for construction,
and planning the future international ESS organisation. This is done in
collaboration with a large number of research institutes, universities
and laboratories around the world. Construction is expected to start in
2013, the irst neutrons to be produced in 2019 and the facility to be
fully operational around 2025. ESS is expected to support a user
community of at least 5000 European researchers and will have great
strategic importance for the development of the European Research Area.
Near by there will be complementary laboratories, such as the
synchrotron MAX IV in Lund and XFEL and PETRAIII in Hamburg.
This information was brought to you by Cision
http://www.cisionwire.com
SOURCE: European Spallation Source AB
Colin Carlile, ESS Director-General.
E-mail colin.carlile@esss.se
Tel. 46 46 888 30 33
or
Marianne Ekdahl, Communications Officer Press Politics.
E-mail marianne.ekdahl@esss.se
Tel. 46 46 888 30 66
Copyright Business Wire 2012
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