Designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects and completed in 2018, the Masdar Building is the first new building in the redevelopment of the University of Manchester’s North Campus and serves as a leading research facility for graphene and 2-D material process engineering and technology transfer, complementing the University’s existing National Graphene Institute.

The building’s design maximizes laboratory space, especially at the lower levels and promotes interactivity and cross-project fertilization between faculty, students, and diverse industrial partners. Two continuous floor plates of modular laboratory space, organized around a high-bay engineering laboratory, contribute to flexibility of the highly technical, open-floor research facility. This modular approach allows partitions to be repositioned and equipment of various sizes to be easily deployed. In addition, the overall design makes it possible for infrastructure (overall building and equipment) to be adapted efficiently and effectively to meet the development needs of graphene applications and 2D materials into the future.