The new Life and Mind Building, which houses the Departments of Experimental Psychology and Biology, opened last week following the closure of the previous faculty buildings in 2016.
Situated on St Cross Road, the building covers an area of 81,991 sq. metres. It encompasses teaching spaces, laboratories, offices, and research facilities which will accommodate researchers, academics, support staff, and students – both undergraduate and postgraduate – when it is fully functional at the end of this year.
An official opening ceremony will take place in November with the Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University.
Cherwell was invited to tour the building with Professors Martin Maiden and Matthew Rushworth, the respective Heads of Department for Biology and Experimental Psychology. They told Cherwell: “For Oxford this is a massive teaching facility. We can simultaneously teach well over 1000 people at one time if we fill all the lecture theatres, labs, and computer rooms.”
Explaining the philosophy of the building, Professor Maiden told Cherwell: “Life is one of the big mysteries, and of course our consciousness about life all comes from our mind. Together, life and mind comprise two of the biggest mysteries of human existence.” He added that “with the new building, the combination of our departments, we can study them under the same roof”.
The Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research (IOI) is also housed in the new building. It’s hoped that this shared space will allow researchers to investigate the fundamental issues of our age, addressing the climate crisis, mental health, and what it means to be human.
Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey said: “The Life and Mind Building isn’t just a world-class facility – it’s a place designed to bring people together.” New research facilities will allow biologists and psychologists to work on bold new interdisciplinary projects in facilities such as sleep labs, rooftop glasshouses, and a new home for the University’s herbarium, including around one million plant specimens. Cherwell understands that it will take approximately six months to transport all of these specimens to the new facility.
The original department buildings closed nine years ago following the discovery of asbestos, with research and teaching facilities spread across Oxford in the intervening period until the opening of the new building.
Although the building does not house a departmental library, Professor Maiden told Cherwell that, for science, library space “doesn’t necessarily mean having books. It means having these kinds of flexible workspaces” which are “the kind of thing that the modern undergraduate wants”. Open desks are situated throughout the building, including the basement and ground floor, which are accessible to all undergraduate students, regardless of faculty.
Professor Maiden went on to say that the “design of the building” means that students can “move through the building as their career progresses, and they can use the different types of spaces” – the open desks, laboratories and the research facilities – as they “continue their studies”. He also boasted that the building has “both the best and second-best view in Oxford,”
Construction of the Life and Mind building cost £200 million and began in November 2021 after planning permission was granted in January that year. The building was delivered by Oxford University Development – a £4 billion joint venture between the University and Legal and General (L&G), a financial service group and major global investor.
The building was designed by NBBJ, an internationally-renowned architecture practice. Ingo Braun, Design Principal, said: “We set out to create an open, flexible, light-filled environment that fosters collaboration, wellbeing, and discovery and it’s exciting to see that vision come to life.”
Cherwell understands that the site adjacent to the Life and Mind building on St Cross Road, which was used by contractors during the building’s construction, will be reconditioned, providing the University with an additional football field and other sporting facilities.
