7 September 2009
Photo Credit Liz Eve Fotohaus
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Photo Credit Liz Eve Fotohaus
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Photo Credit Liz Eve Fotohaus
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Photo Credit Liz Eve Fotohaus
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Photo Credit Liz Eve Fotohaus
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Bristol University’s Centre for Nanoscience and
Quantum Information (NSQI) officially opens
today.
Hailed as the 'Quietest Building in the World', the £11 million
project provides state-of-the-art specialised laboratories where
vibration and acoustic noise levels are among the lowest ever
achieved, despite being located in Bristol city centre.
Capita Symonds provided project management
services on the project which was designed by our architecture
division – Capita Architecture.
The centre, which contains an anechoic chamber, two cleanrooms
and wet, optical and low-vibration laboratories, will offer
opportunities for the development of future computing,
communications and health technologies, as well as advanced
materials such as those used in the aerospace industry.
The basement houses the ‘low noise’ area with a suite of
ultra-low vibration nanoscience laboratories which are anchored to
the rock below. The building also benefits from access to
techniques and imaging equipment, much of which has been developed
in-house, which allow researchers to observe, understand,
manipulate and characterise nanostructures and reactions, both
chemical and biological, and to develop new synthesised
materials.
It has a unique purpose-designed environment in which a
multidisciplinary and inter-disciplinary research community drawn
from science, engineering, and medicine can be fostered and thrive
through stimulating interactions and the exchange of ideas. It
provides a focus of expertise for leading scientists and engineers
from the University, the UK and across the world, to work and
interact.
Symbolism is used in the building form, elevations and atrium
dome which is shaped as a ‘bucky ball’. The ‘bucky ball’ is so
called because it resembles a geodesic sphere, a molecular
structure made popular in the 1940s by American designer Richard
Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller.
High quality materials have been used throughout including
curved Portuguese limestone on the main elevation set out in the
Fibonacci Series. Self-cleaning glass has also been installed which
uses Nano particles to break down dirt which is then washed away by
rainwater.
Iain Martin, Capita Architecture, says: “The NS&QI building
is a beautiful and complex building amalgamating both art and
science in a harmonious composition. It is technically complex and
has exceeded expectations by becoming “the quietest building in the
world” in terms of vibration performance. For the scientists the
building is beautiful for this reason alone!”
The unique environment offered by the NSQI will allow
experiments to be undertaken at levels of precision surpassing that
achieved in other laboratories around the world. The laboratories
are already being used to carry out some groundbreaking
research:
- Quantum Computing - A primitive quantum
computer that uses single particles of light (photons) whizzing
through a silicon chip has performed its first mathematical
calculation. This is the first time a calculation has been
performed on a photonic chip and is a major step towards harnessing
the power of single particles of 'light' to perform processing
tasks and, ultimately, the development of a super-powerful quantum
computer.
- Generating Green Electricity - A novel
material made of tiny diamonds is set to create a new and ‘greener’
way of producing electricity. The material’s unique properties will
enable the sun’s heat to be converted directly into electricity,
enabling the development of new solar cell technology for
applications in power generation (it is envisaged that this will do
away with huge solar panels and replace them with something the
size of a saucer).
In order to understand how the material is able to do this,
state-of-the-art equipment has been installed in one of the NSQI
‘quiet’ laboratories. It can study the electronic properties of the
material by looking at individual atoms. The research is being
sponsored by the energy company E.ON, to the tune of
£1million.