Edinburgh, West Mains Road, King's Buildings, Animal Breeding Research Organisation Building
Scientific Research Establishment (20th Century)
Site Name Edinburgh, West Mains Road, King's Buildings, Animal Breeding Research Organisation Building
Classification Scientific Research Establishment (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) University Of Edinburgh; Roger Land Building; Mayfield Road; Institute For Stem Cell Research And School Of Biological Sciences
Canmore ID 181061
Site Number NT27SE 526.13
NGR NT 26580 70530
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/181061
- Council Edinburgh, City Of
- Parish Edinburgh (Edinburgh, City Of)
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District City Of Edinburgh
- Former County Midlothian
Building Notes
Basil Spence & Partners designed the headquarters of the Animal Research Organisation on the King's Buildings campus of Edinburgh University from 1961-65. It provided study facilities, administration space, and a small conference facility. Today it houses the Institute for Stem Cell Research and School of Biological Studies and is known as the Roger Land Building. The building is two storeys in height and situated around a courtyard and service yard.
Archive Details
The drawings and the photographs in the Sir Basil Spence Archive demonstrate how the architects clearly separated the different functions that the building was to contain. The research laboratories are in one part of the building, with a parallel area containing the administrative offices; at first floor level they are connected by a library.
On the ground floor, the plans show a house, possibly for a member of staff. The house was provided with a private garden, cleverly sheltered from the surrounding university buildings, and opening out to the inner courtyard terrace. This terrace is adjacent to the lunch room and the conference room, and demonstrates how the architects managed to provide pleasant enclosed space in an otherwise functional environment.
The Archive material also shows how little the building has changed, which is perhaps surprising given the large amount of development on the King's Building site since the 1960s. The generous and spacious layout of the building is a contrast to other more recent buildings at Kings' Buildings that are far higher, and are afforded less open space at ground level.
Archive Summary
The Sir Basil Spence Archive contains 24 photographs; these include photographs of a model of the building, and professional photographs taken of the exterior and interior upon completion. Also included are five mechanical copies of drawings showing floor plans, several elevations, and sections.
This text was written as one of the outputs of the Sir Basil Spence Archive Project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, 2005-08.
NT27SE 526.13 26580 70530
Architect: Basil Spence and Partners, 1961-1965
