Five architect consortia will compete to design ESS exterior

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.

For more information, please contact:

Colin Carlile, ESS Director-General. E-mail colin.carlile@esss.se, Tel. 46 46 888 30 33

Marianne Ekdahl, Communications Officer Press & Politics. E-mail marianne.ekdahl@esss.se, Tel. 46 46 888 30 66

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 B€ 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 first 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.

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