About us

Facilities

Architecture

Scott Tallon Walker were the architectural firm chosen to design UCD Conway Institute due to their prior experience in the design of scientific buildings The architecture of this new building comprises 9,617sqm in addition to an existing building of 1,676sqm.Designed to match the materials and expression of the original building, UCD Conway Institute was built using precast concrete panels with a light cream coloured finish similar to Portland Stone, broken by bands of natural grey granite at window head level to the major elevations. Grey granite has been used on the staircase gable with the roof and wing plant rooms clad in metal rainscreen panels of the same unit size.

Design

The innovative design of the Institute itself contributes to promoting interaction between research groups by virtue of its large, open-plan research laboratories with shared support facilities. The central provision of office, writing meeting and social spaces is also an essential feature in facilitating the interdisciplinary mission of the Institute.

Plan

The lower ground of the hub provides a lecture / conference theatre for 128 people and specialist research laboratories including a transgenic facility and a number of core technologies such as high-field nuclear magnetic resonance and protein crystallography.

The ground floor of the building contains the offices of the Directorate, meeting rooms, a bioinformatics suite and a large social area, an essential feature in facilitating the Institute’s interdisciplinary mission.

A new teaching facility, incorporating laboratories and classrooms, forms an integral part of the new building and provides a premier educational environment for the undergraduate students in life sciences.

This will ensure that students are embedded in the research environment from a very early stage and that UCD Conway Institute graduates will be well equipped for careers in the expanding knowledge-based bioindustry and healthcare sectors.