The Discovery Centre (DISC)

by Herzog and de Meuron / BDP

Client AstraZeneca

Award RIBA East Award 2025

The award winner tells us: "The Discovery Centre (DISC) is AstraZeneca’s new global facility in Cambridge, envisioned as a hub for biomedical research and development, for education, healthcare, science, research institutions, and companies.

The architectural concept places research as a centrepiece activity, and puts science on display through openness, transparency, and reflection. The building is a triangular glass disc with rounded edges that loosely follows the shape of the site. DISC is defined by a sawtooth roof, running east to west to create a unifying zigzag geometry of the overall envelope and provide optimal natural lighting deep into the laboratories and office spaces."

The jury says: "These laboratories have full-height interior glass walls so everyone can see what is going on – and yet are also highly secure. Cleverly inserted interconnecting corridors allow scientists to move from one lab to another. Beneath the ground is a deep two-storey basement where a lot of specialised equipment undoubtedly adds to the substantial overall cost required to provide a suitably state-of-the-art scientific facility.

Fourteen separate heating control systems enable the adjustment of temperature within the different areas of this elegant and functional building. Heating and cooling are supplied by a remote ground-source heat pump – claimed to be Europe’s largest – on the edge of the science park. One would forgive the design team if they concentrated on the science alone, yet there is more than a nod to placemaking here."

Read the full citation from the RIBA Awards Jury on RIBA Journal

Gross internal area 62,842m²