Alan Turing Building

:"This article is about the Alan Turing Building in Manchester, there is another building of the the same name at QinetiQ in Malvern."

Infobox building
building_name = Alan Turing Building

---

caption = The Alan Turing Building from Upper Brook St
former_names = AMPPS
building_type = Educational
architectural_style =
structural_system =
location = Manchester, United Kingdom
owner = University of Manchester
current_tenants =
landlord =
coordinates = coord|53|28|04|N|2|13|53|W|type:landmark|display=inline,title
start_date =
completion_date = 2007cite web | title = Piccadilly Manchester — Sheppard Robinson | url=http://www.piccadillymanchester.com/index.asp?sessionx=IWU6KWF6JaqiNwB6IHqiNwA&mpage=3 | accessdate=2007-11-25]
height =
diameter =
other_dimensions =
floor_count = 5
floor_area = 17,000 m²
main_contractor = HBG Construction [Kingframe Architectural Facade Systems Project Profile: University of Manchester AMPPS, Off site, August 2006, [http://www.kingspanoffsite.com/adminimages/AMPPSProfile4pp.pdf] ]
architect = Sheppard Robson
structural_engineer =
services_engineer = Emcor Engineering [EMCOR Group PLC 2005 Review, p9 [http://www.emcoruk.com/resources/downloads/2005_FinRev.pdf] accessed 30/12/2007]
civil_engineer =
Services_designers = Jacob Babtie Fact|date=December 2007
quantity_surveyor =
awards = The Alan Turing Building, named after the mathematician and founder of computer science Alan Turing, is a building at the University of Manchester, in Manchester, England. It houses the School of Mathematics, the Photon Sciences Institute and the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics (part of the School of Physics and Astronomy). The building is located in the Chorlton-on-Medlock district of Manchester, on Upper Brook Street, and is adjacent to the new University Place. While under construction the project was known as AMPPS : Astronomy, Mathematics, Physics and Photon Sciences. The building has been shortlisted for the Greater Manchester Building of the Year 2008 prize, which is awarded by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce.cite news | url=http://www.crainsmanchesterbusiness.co.uk/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080811/FREE/101227082/-1/breaking/-/-/four-buildings-shortlisted-for-building-of-the-year | title=Four buildings shortlisted for Building of the Year | publisher = Crain's Manchester Business | first=Simon | last=Binns | date=1 August 2008 | accessdate=2008-09-03]

Architecture

The £43m building was completed in July 2007, and was designed by architects Sheppard Robsoncite web | title = Piccadilly Manchester — Sheppard Robson | url=http://www.piccadillymanchester.com/index.asp?sessionx=IWU6KWF6JaqiNwB6IHqiNwA&mpage=3 | accessdate=2007-11-25] . It consists of three "fingers", each of which are four stories high. The building is of steel frame construction, with reinforced concrete stair wells, [cite web|author =Nick Higham|title=Construction of the Alan Turing Building, University of Manchester|url=http://www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/~higham/photos/AMPS_long/index.htm.Photographs clearly show construction details including concrete stairway towers and steel frames.] and grey zinc exterior [http://www.amefacades.com/products.php?pid=61 Proteus hr] Cladding by [http://www.amefacades.com AME Facades]

The northern two fingers are joined by an atrium, which is spanned by a series of bridges. The southernmost finger was designed to hold low vibration laboratories, and is joined by a glazed bridge at third floor level to the middle finger.

An 'over-sailing' roof structure connects the three fingers acting as a suspension system for a photovoltaic array/solar shading using thin film technology. This photovoltaic array is designed to produce nearly 41 megawatt hours per annum, a saving of 17,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide each year. [cite web | title = Constructing Excellence, Demonstration Project |url=http://demos.constructingexcellence.org.uk/knowledgebase/main.php?ProjectID=2850] At the time of completion this was the largest photovoltaic array in North West England, and helped the architects to win an award for "Business Commitment to the Environment".cite web | title=Sheppard Robson wins top award | url=http://www.piccadillymanchester.com/index.asp?Sessionx=IpqiNwF6Il7nNwB6IaqiNwA&realname=Sheppard_Robson_wins_top_award | accessdate=2007-11-25]

One condition for planning approval was that the project included corridors for pedestrian access and visual transparency between Upper Brook Street and Oxford Road. This was to counter complaints by the residents of Brunswick, on the other side of Upper Brook Street, that previous university developments seemed to be creating a wall to them. The pedestrian walkway between the second and third finger, and the transparent atrium met these demands. [cite web | title = Manchester City Council Planning and Highways Committee Thursday 21st December 2006, University of Manchester |url=http://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/080756-OCO-0001.pdf] This follows the line of an earlier street, when the site was a residential area, and when reopened will run from Upper Brook Street to Oxford Road and is called "Wilton Street", as it was historically. [cite web | author=Peter J. Eccles|url=http://www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/ugstudies/AlanTuringBuilding.pdf | title=Undergraduate Facilities in the Alan Turing Building | publisher=University of Manchester School of Mathematics | accessdate=2007-11-25] The roof structure was also required by the planning authorities so that the development is regarded as one building.Fact|date=November 2007

In the 1960s many mathematics departments were housed in high-rise buildings including the Mathematics Tower at the Victoria University of Manchester, and the Maths and Social Sciences Building at UMIST. These proved completely unsuited to the activities of a mathematics department (and arguably any academic department) as travel between floors in lifts (and uninviting stairways) discourages interaction between mathematicians resulting from chance encounter. Buildings such as the Mathematics Institute at Warwick (at East Site and later the Zeeman Building) and the Isaac Newton Institute at Cambridge are deliberately low-rise and designed to encourage chance encounter.Fact|date=December 2007 The Alan Turing Building was designed with substantial input from the mathematiciansFact|date=December 2007 and the design reflects this including a large open plan common room on the atrium bridge, open corridors and walkways [cite web | title = Schott solar, quoting Sheppard Robson press release on design of building|url=http://www.schott.com/photovoltaic/english/news/press.html?NID=2101|accessdate=2007-12-29] and the relocation of the best traditional blackboards from the old buildings.

Occupancy and facilities

The Photon Sciences Institute occupies the southernmost finger, with the northern two fingers housing Mathematics on the first three floors and the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics on the third and fourth floors. The ground floor atrium constitutes a public space including a small café called "Pi in the Sky".cite web | title=Manchester "Food on campus" website, Pi in the Sky | url=http://www.foodoncampus.manchester.ac.uk/outlets/cafes/oxfordroadeast/piinthesky/ | accessdate=2007-11-25] Surrounding the atrium on the ground floor are the undergraduate common room for mathematics, as well as lecture rooms and undergraduate computer rooms. The first and second floor of the first two fingers mainly house the offices of academic staff and postgraduate students in mathematics, as well as the "Manchester Institute for Mathematical Science" (MIMS) conference areas [cite web | title=Manchester Institute for Mathematical Sciences: The Alan Turing Building | url=http://www.mims.manchester.ac.uk/info/new-building.html | accessdate=2007-11-25] . One of seminar rooms is named after the topologist Frank Adams, and the library after algebraist Brian Hartley. Lecture theatres are named after Mordell, Richardson, Max Newman and Lighthill. A meeting room is named after Horace Lamb and the Access Grid room after Sydney Goldstein. The bridge across the atrium is the common room for mathematics academics and graduate students.

The third floor houses the academic offices of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, which provides provides a new base for the research activities in astronomy and astrophysics with the relocation of many staff and students from Jodrell Bank Observatory. The Observatory now forms part of the JBCA and provides leading observational facilities such as the Lovell Telescope and the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN). This floor differs in design from the others in that the rooms have windows onto the atrium and glass walls to central corridors in each wing whilst retaining glass walled walkways across the atrium. The astrophysics seminar room is named after Sir Bernard Lovell, founder of Jodrell Bank Observatory. The fourth floor contains a number of labs, an RFI screened room and clean room, all for astrophysics instrumentation construction, such as receivers for the Lovell Telescope and Planck Surveyor satellite.Fact|date=December 2007 In January 2008 the Project Design Office for the Square Kilometre Array relocated to Manchester to be hosted by the JBCA, co-ordinating the global efforts in constructing the next generation radio telescope.

The photon sciences finger houses laboratories shielded from electromagnetic radiation and resistant to vibration [cite journal | author=Energy Efficiency Team | title=Improving efficiency by design | journal=Energy Efficiency Now | pages=6–8 | issue=4 | year=2007 | url=http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=23&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.envirolinknorthwest.co.uk%2Fenvirolink%2FEnergyEfficiency-sig.nsf%2F0%2F43F1FCAEF9425FA1802572F200298268%2F%24file%2F1070%2520Energy%2520NoW%25204.pdf&ei=4EB2R4LSA6OwwQH09ITMBw&usg=AFQjCNGHf7D8ICQHJDqT7-nJox-HOHRvNw&sig2=dhSeRKZ0e81wRM78rN14-g | accessdate=2007-12-29] . A bridge on the third floor connects from Astrophysics to the Photon Sciences Institute, but retaining that finger's resistance to mechanical vibration.Fact|date=December 2007

References

External links

* [http://www.mims.manchester.ac.uk/info/new-building.html Alan Turing Building, School of Mathematics]
* [http://www.psi.manchester.ac.uk/ Photon Sciences Institute]
* [http://www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac.uk/ Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics]
* [http://www.maths.manchester.ac.uk/~higham/photos/AMPS_long/index.htm Photo gallery of building's construction]
* [http://www.skatelescope.org/ Square Kilometre Array Radio Telescope]