Big Data Institute

Make Architects has completed its fifth project for the University of Oxford, a new medical research building dedicated to complex, analytical research into the causes, consequences, prevention and treatment of disease.

The Big Data Institute is the first UK research building to utilise a ‘labyrinth’ as part of a passive cooling strategy and has been awarded BREEAM Outstanding.

Housing 552 people, the 7,500m2 building has been specifically designed to assist with the storage, analysis and processing of enormous quantities of data with the aim of providing new insights into illnesses and treatments worldwide. A vast server room provides enough computing power for 600 trillion computations per second.

Four levels of office space are arranged around a top-lit atrium. Each floor has a mix of both perimeter cellular offices and generous open-plan spaces interspersed with high-quality social and breakout areas to promote different methods of working and collaboration.

The building employs a passive design, using the principles of assisted natural ventilation wherever possible. A 600m subterranean labyrinth is located beneath the lower ground floor that draws in air through the atrium light well and uses the thermal mass of the concrete – which is a relatively constant 12°C – to regulate temperatures in summer and winter before circulating it to the main rooftop plant room. This air is then distributed via floor plenums and extracted via the atrium using the stack effect. The BDI is one of only a handful of buildings in the UK that use a labyrinth for cooling, and is the first UK research building to use one.

Other sustainable features of the building include a combined heat and power (CHP) plant, photovoltaic (PV) panels, sedum roof, sustainable urban drainage system, and drainage attenuation.

Hybrid ventilation

Innovative cooling system

Passive Solar

High efficient façade

Photovoltaics

Water-saving sanitary appliances

High efficient lighting

Daylight sensors

Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems

Green or brown roofs

Daylighting maximised

Energy Star equipment & appliances