Inspire
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the National Wildflower Centre Charity, NWC teamed up with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to hold an international open design competition for a £5.4m new facility at the National Wildflower Centre in Knowsley.
The proposed new facility, which links the mathematics and science of wildflowers with architecture, will transform the existing polytunnel plant production, processing area and lean-to garages in the walled garden into a sustainable design and build.
The facility will be a centre of excellence for:
Education, learning and interpretation
Conferences (Green Tourism Business Scheme Gold Standard);
State of the art wildflower production, processing and innovation
The International Design Competition, funded by the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA), sought a bespoke, innovative and architecturally striking design that would inspire and encourage people to learn about the relationships between nature, mathematics and physics.
The design also required minimal energy and resource use and maximum energy generation with a view to becoming one of the UK’s first BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ buildings.
The competition was launched on 21 November 2008 and 144 entries were received from all over the world including India, Australia, Argentina, Japan and the USA – the second highest number of submissions for a RIBA open design competition.
The winner
In March 2009, an independent jury panel selected the submission by Manchester based Ian Simpson Architects – supported by Adams Kara Taylor (Structural and Civil Engineering), Hoare Lea (Mechanical, Electrical and Environmental Engineering) and Cyril Sweett (Cost Consultancy, Project Management and Building Surveying) – as the winning design.
The new 1,800m2 complex will create a modern flexible facility in a wildflower landscaped walled garden that will integrate learning, operational and sustainability functions under one roof. It is an inspirational statement that reflects the modernity and forward thinking ethos of creative conservation, and beautifully highlights the links between nature and scientific theory.
Ian Simpson, Director of Ian Simpson Architects said "We are delighted to have won this international design competition which has underpinned our commitment to an integrated approach, combining truly sustainable design with beautiful architecture."
Grant Luscombe, Chief Executive of Landlife said "Ian Simpson has designed a beautiful addition to our National Wildflower Centre, thanks to North West Development Agency support and its commitment to sustainable development. As a result, I find it a really exciting prospect that Knowsley, the borough internationally acclaimed for making new wildflower meadows, will now also become home to the greenest conference venue in the country."
To visit Ian Simpson Architects website click here
http://www.iansimpsonarchitects.com/site/main.htm
The scheme
The proposals aim to embrace and improve the setting of the established wildflower beds at the centre whilst creating a striking entrance to a stunning new building.
The layout is very simple, a curving rammed earth wall laid out on a Fibonacci spiral embraces the wildflower beds, leads to the entrance to the new conference facility and delineates the public and operational areas, allowing the latter to be discreetly tucked away. The roof of the new operational areas will contain the pot plant storage area, shaded by a simple screened trellis system.
The rammed earth walls leads to an indoor reception space, sheltered by a translucent ETFE roof, from where it is possible to access all of the main public facilities including the classrooms and community room, entered through the rammed earth wall and the main flexible space opposite.
The main flexible space sits alongside the established wildflower beds as a distinctive new element, inspired by a wildflower head. A series of ‘petals’ are arranged around the external surface of the flexible space, set out in accordance with the Fibonacci sequence.
The ‘petals’ themselves are simple, fixed, highly reflective, parabolic metal discs, which reflect natural light.
The next steps.
The scheme has undertaken several public consultations and further NWDA support has enabled the project to secure full planning permission. to build this The National Wildflower Centre is now raising funds for the capital funding to build a new educational, conference and seed production complex.
Richard Tracey, head of environmental quality, NWDA said: "The aspiration to produce a new educational and visitor facility that will engage young people in exploring mathematics and science through wildflowers is an admirable and exciting one which has a potentially strong resonance with the agency's environmental quality and skills agenda."
To help visualize the new complex, a breathtaking 60m long and 4m high illustration has been installed on site at the National Wildflower Centre to give visitors an instant impression of what to expect.
The Inspiration
Mathematics and physics observed in nature, such as the Golden Section, Fibonacci sequence and Brownian motion, are the inspiration for the new complex, and we are grateful for the support of mathematician and especially Dr Ron Knott (Surrey University) for his valuable advice, encouragement and support in this report.
By explaining complex maths and physics theory through architecture, simple wildflower structures and natural phenomena, NWC hope to stimulate curiosity, inspire confidence, challenge educational stereotyping, and cultivate creativity and innovation.
It is a line, which is divided in such a way that the smaller part is to the larger as the larger is to the whole, it works out at about 8:13
Nature uses this same proportion to place seeds on a seed head, to arrange petals around a flower and to place leaves around a stem.
This occurs time and time again as the plant grows, resulting in optimal packing so that each leaf gets the maximum rain and sunlight, casts the least shade on others no matter how big the plant grows, and ensures flowers have the best exposure to insect pollinators.
The Golden Section was observed by the ancients. It has been used in many designs from the Parthenon (400BC) to Stradivarius violins. It was known to artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and composers such as Bartok. It is evident in the design of the United Nations buildings and in the tapestry in Coventry cathedral.
Fibonacci Numbers
Starting with 0 and 1, then adding the two previous numbers together to get the next number, the Fibonacci sequence is 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 and so on.
Various Fibonacci numbers can be seen in the number of petals of, such as 5 on a wild rose, 8 on a delphinium, 13 on corn marigold and 21 on chicory.
Brownian motion
Brownian motion was one of three fundamental advances that Einstein made in 1905. It laid the theoretical groundwork for precision measurements to reveal the reality of atoms.
Understanding Brownian motion is clarifying how functional biosystems must satisfy almost contradictory requirements. They must be robust to a complicated and ever-fluctuating environment, yet at the same time they must also be able to exploit the fluctuations to carry out complicated biological functions, such as the transport of vital molecules in and out of cells. There is an extraordinary balance between function and fluctuation, between hard physical rules and subtle effects of randomness.