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NBBJ/ Ty Cole
The Life and Mind building, enabled by Legal & General (L&G), is one of the largest building projects in the University’s history and will be home to the Departments of Biology and Experimental Psychology, as well as the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research (IOI). Designed by internationally-renowned architecture practice NBBJ, it will enable researchers to investigate the most fundamental questions of our age – from what it means to be human, to how we address the global challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, mental health and food security.
The Life and Mind building was developed and funded by L&G and has been delivered through the Oxford University Development (OUD) partnership – a £4 billion joint venture between Oxford University and Legal & General delivering academic and research facilities, alongside housing and associated infrastructure.
Opening to coincide with the new academic year, the building offers over 269,000 sq ft of transformative spaces for teaching, research, innovation and public engagement. It will provide a home for more than 1,400 scientists, academics, researchers, support staff and postgraduate students and become the main teaching location for around 1,000 undergraduate students with new lecture halls and teaching spaces.
Researchers will study both ‘life’ – through the natural world – and ‘mind’ – by exploring the workings of the human brain and behaviour. Among the new research facilities are sleep labs, a virtual reality and motor lab, experimental classrooms, multisensory labs, rooftop glasshouses, licensed facilities for advanced plant science and controlled-environment laboratories, as well as a dedicated home for the University’s botanical collections comprising approximately one million specimens.