Unilever Evaluation Centre Port Sunlight 2001–2003

Our scheme unites disparate research and development teams with their public for whom they develop products on Unilever’s Port Sunlight campus. The design was intended as a model for Unilever’s Global Technology Centres worldwide. The project’s cancellation due to internal restructuring, which would result in the proposed facilities being located in the Netherlands, coincided with the completion of the construction drawings.

Image 1

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    The Evaluation Centre, with its huge cantilevered porch, is evidently a public building
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    Inside, glazed partitions and translucent ceilings mimic an American office interior from the Fifties. Space and reflections of space are uncannily superimposed; the effect akin to the work of American artist Dan Graham
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    Isometric One - outwardly, the Evaluation Centre is conspicuously sculptural. Flues, ductwork, escape stairs and access gantries are essential elements in the composition
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    Isometric Two
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    Isometric Three
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    Isometric Four
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    Ground floor plan - like a theatre, it has a foyer, box office, and studios where members of the public congregate and participate in the group evaluation of products in development
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    First floor plan – another world, the laboratories and video-conferencing suites are laid out around two courts, & extend to form two “meeting” bridges that connect with the original Nuffield wing

Technical

  • Appointment: 2001
  • Budget: £4.5m
  • Client: Unilever
  • Services Engineer: Whity Bird
  • Structural Engineer: Whity Bird
  • Quantity Surveyor: Tweeds Construction Consultancy
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