FUSE: Architecture

Functionally-led spaces

Functionally-led design

Platform

Simple
Upgradeable
Purpose
Affordable
Culture
Sustainable
Accessible
Buildable

Agile platform verses generic commercial lab space

The vision behind the design is to establish a highly adaptable platform that can sustain an expansive and diverse science and technology community.

To guide development and measure performance, nine distinct tenant profiles were examined-each functioning in related yet uniquely demanding settings and scaling its operations in different ways. This thorough comparative analysis ensures the facility can effectively support a wide spectrum of scientific, technological, and commercial uses.

Rather than relying on the traditional commercial lab model-which often delivers uniform, pre-built infrastructure for life science organisations-the proposal achieves flexibility through strategic, informed design rooted in a nuanced understanding of industry-specific requirements. This approach creates a platform that can be quickly reconfigured as tenant needs change, reducing upfront capital costs while significantly increasing operational versatility.

As a result, the facility offers a degree of resilience and adaptability that exceeds that of conventional laboratory environments. It is capable of hosting a broad mix of organisations, disciplines, and workflows within one cohesive setting. The diagram below outlines the nine representative tenant categories used in the benchmarking effort and highlights the level of flexibility typically provided by a commercial science facility.

Approach

It’s all Workplace

Traditional Office

Simple

Less Environmental Control

Less Regulation

Less Compliance

Traditional Laboratory

Complex

Increasing Environmental Control

Increasing Regulation

Increasing Compliance

FUSE - the UPGRADE path diagram

The diagram above illustrates the FUSE concept. Rather than relying on heavy upfront capital investment, FUSE incorporates a clear and strategic pathway for future upgrades. The building is designed to evolve over time, allowing for cost effective, planned adaptation through intentional design choices.

FUSE - the UPGRADE path diagram

The diagram below illustrates the FUSE concept, showing its potential development from Day One through Year 5, based on a three-storey layout with up to four separate demises.

Maximum complexity within demise.

Each tenant will have a blend of space types up to a maximum complexity.

Floor plates are based on 7.2 x 6.6m grid and FUSE is based on 33 x 64.8m building size over three storeys. To minimise construction waste, elements have been designed in modules of 300mm.

Gases, stores & waste are shown within the GF footprint, locating these externally generates a Nett to Gross floor area of 83% (81.2% when retained).

Click to expand illustrations >

Design for people is fundamental in technology-led innovation buildings, where value is increasingly generated through interaction, collaboration, and knowledge exchange rather than isolated activity.

In this context, architecture moves beyond providing space for individual tenants and instead shapes ecosystems that actively enable connection - both within organisations and across a wider multi-tenant community.

Curated tenant mix and shared environments within buildings and campuses create the conditions for meaningful, often informal collaboration. By carefully designing adjacencies, shared amenities, and circulation routes, buildings can support the exchange of ideas across disciplines, strengthening innovation and fostering a more dynamic working culture.

This aligns closely with the principles of Office 3.0, where workplace design shifts away from fixed, uniform layouts towards flexible, people-centred environments. Choice becomes fundamental. No single workspace suits every task, individual, or moment in the working day. Providing a diverse range of settings - from quiet focus areas and collaborative hubs to social and restorative spaces - ensures people can select the environment that best supports their needs.

Crucially, designing for all means recognising different working styles, accessibility needs, and patterns of use. Giving people genuine choice over where and how they work creates more inclusive, equitable environments that perform better for everyone.

As architects, we see all space as active workspace. Every environment is shaped not only by function, but by human behaviour; how people move, interact, and occupy space. This hybrid-first, experience-led approach integrates wellbeing, adaptability, and flexibility, supporting both in-person and remote working models. The result is a workplace that does more than accommodate work. It empowers it - encouraging engagement, creativity, and connection, while making the office a destination people choose, not a place they have to be.

Concepts - Roof

For complex buildings, the roof plays a critical role in enabling long-term adaptability and operational flexibility. It typically accommodates major MEP systems that support both base building infrastructure and tenant requirements. However, roof design is often underdeveloped compared to other building elements, and its real-world flexibility frequently falls short of what is envisioned at the design stage.

This is largely due to competing design constraints, including rainwater management, structural loading, insulation, fire safety, and plant requirements. Increasingly, photovoltaic (PV) systems must also be considered-both for initial installation and future expansion.

As PV panels require unobstructed access to sunlight, they are best positioned at the uppermost layer of the roof. By introducing a dedicated structural framework to support PV, this system can also be used to suspend MEP services beneath it. This creates a clear and accessible maintenance zone while decoupling services from the roof surface.

A further benefit of this approach is that it enables the use of offsite, volumetric MEP modules.

These prefabricated units can be assembled, tested, and quality-checked in a controlled factory environment before being lifted into position and connected on site.

This reduces installation time, improves build quality, and minimises on-site disruption, while also supporting safer and more efficient construction processes.

This approach offers several advantages. The MEP layer becomes significantly more flexible, allowing for easier reconfiguration and future expansion.

At the same time, lifting services off the roof enables the roof build-up to be optimised independently for drainage falls, outlet positioning, and insulation performance.

In addition, this strategy can reduce the need for heavy, load-bearing non- combustible insulation-delivering both cost and embodied carbon savings.