Neural Architects documents a unique collaboration between a leading architectural practice, Ian Ritchie Architects Ltd, and neuroscientists, which resulted in the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre at University College London, a state of the art research laboratory and new architectural icon.
In their work, Ian Ritchie and his architectural team swept away all preconceptions about how to design a laboratory. Instead, they visited neuroscientists around the world, gaining an intimate understanding of the way they use and construct the spaces around them. Through continuing dialogue, the design team imagined the new lab from the inside out and created adaptable, interconnected spaces to foster interactions between researchers from different disciplines.
Based on interviews with the architects and researchers involved and illustrated throughout with photographs and renderings, this book gives a rare inside view of the process of creating a highly specialized building.