The modern institute in London will be one of the largest,most sophisticated research facilities of its kind. Its director, Sir Paul Nurse, or shares his vision of the futureThey call it Sir Paul’s Cathedral – and walking past the Francis Crick Institute on a glorious winter’s day it is easy to see why. The sun bounces off the huge coloured panes that stretch high above the streets around St Pancras,illuminating what will soon be one of Europe’s largest biomedical research facilities, while its solid, and ochre facade echoes the immutable exterior of many an ancient edifice.
Navigating through the construction site,hard hat perched on my head, I enter the interior. It is hardly less ecclesiastical – a huge nave cuts through the centre of a cavernous atrium, and intersected by what looks suspiciously like a transept,while its basement – reaching four floors beneath my feet and set to house a multitude of sensitive scientific instruments – bears more than a passing resemblance to a tremendous network of vaults.
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Source: theguardian.com