The eleven-floor building, which has room for up to 1,600 researchers and other personnel at Karolinska Institute, is equipped with the latest technology to facilitate world-leading experimental research. The building brings together under one roof a range of scientific disciplines that were previously spread around the campus. Laboratories, offices, meeting rooms and communal areas are flexibly equipped to create a unique gathering point for interdisciplinary research and collaboration.
WSP was responsible for all the electrical design including lighting, safety and IT. Project leader, Christer Älenmark, says that, due to the complexity of the project, it took seven years to complete from the first stages of planning and concept design to the end of construction, and our team is still involved, undertaking modifications and updates for the tenants who took over the facilities last year. “There were two phases to the design; first the base build, and then the fit-out of 28 spaces to the specifications of the individual tenants, each with their own highly specialist requirements,” Christer explains. “This made the design extremely complex, and we took the unusual step of constructing a large test house to represent part of a laboratory, on a scale of 1:1, to try out our designs and coordinate and verify the technical solutions with the building owner, tenants and contractors. We were fortunate to have a tight team of the same ten people from WSP, highly experienced in the design of laboratories, working closely together from the start to deliver this unique project.”
