One Helix, designed by UNS and developed by Breakthrough Properties for biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, demonstrates how ambitious sustainability targets can actively shape spatial design. Bringing together life science laboratories, offices, and amenities, the building combines demanding technical requirements with a whole-life carbon approach.
Developing the environmental strategy
Covering 6,515 square metres and located near Amsterdam UMC, the city’s university medical centre, One Helix was conceived as a net energy-positive building designed to outperform Nearly Zero-Energy Building (NZEB) requirements. Rather than treating sustainability measures as a checklist, UNS used them as a framework for design and decision-making from initial concept through to completion. These targets informed the building’s massing, facades, roofscape, material palette, flexibility, and interior environment.
The programme combines laboratories with offices, meeting spaces, storage, amenities, and technical infrastructure within a flexible layout designed to accommodate both current research requirements and future adaptation.
Reducing embodied carbon to less than half that typically associated with a building of this type in the Netherlands was a major objective. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) informed efforts to minimise material use and incorporate circular materials wherever possible, while operational carbon was addressed through measures including bespoke static solar shading and passive cooling systems. The project achieved BREEAM Outstanding and NZEB certifications.
Together, these measures demonstrate how the environmental performance of a life science building can be extended while remaining buildable, commercially viable, and attractive to tenants.
Ben van Berkel, Founder and Principal Architect at UNS, explains: ‘This new headquarter building will strengthen AstraZeneca’s ongoing efforts to pioneer the field of T-cell receptor therapies in a healthy and collaborative work environment that meets, and at times exceeds, the highest sustainability standards. We have also integrated biophilic design elements and natural materials into the design to supplement the technical system design and create healthy work and leisure spaces for all AstraZeneca employees.’
Reducing embodied carbon through structure and materials
The project began with stringent sustainability requirements tied to the site and development brief. UNS recognised that reducing operational energy alone would not be sufficient and developed a broader whole-life carbon strategy balancing operational performance, embodied carbon, material efficiency, and long-term flexibility.
Careful optimisation of the structural system played an important role. Analysis concluded that a hybrid structure combining low-carbon concrete and steel would outperform a timber alternative for this particular building. The resulting lightweight structure reduces cement use through the incorporation of reused urban materials and was designed with components that can be relatively easily separated and dismantled.
A simple layout further reduces material demand while allowing the building to be adapted over time with minimal waste. In this way, One Helix illustrates how significant material and carbon reductions can be achieved using familiar construction systems, increasing the relevance of its approach to the wider commercial market.
Integrating energy and landscape systems
Other measures supporting the project’s energy goals include photovoltaic panels integrated into the facade, highly efficient air systems with energy recovery, heat exchange systems, temperature-regulating ceilings, and underground thermal energy storage. These systems work alongside a green roof and water retention measures to reduce heat island effects, support biodiversity, and improve climate resilience. Shared electric mobility and charging infrastructure at basement level further contribute to the project’s low-carbon strategy.
Facade performance and solar control
The facade design emerged from performance requirements as much as aesthetic considerations. Early studies focused on reducing solar heat gain, improving daylight, and supporting occupant comfort, leading to an approach in which solar shading became integral to the architecture.
Developed with i-Mesh, the shading elements respond to orientation, solar heat gain, and wind load. Daylight and sunlight studies, together with physical mock-ups, were used to test their performance and support suitable conditions across both laboratory and office floors.
Woven by robotic arms using a zero-waste production method, the screens are formed from rigid, resin-infused basalt fibre elements. Their custom pattern was calibrated to balance transparency and solar protection while meeting strict performance tolerances. The system was also engineered to remain stable in strong winds, combining environmental performance with a distinctive architectural character.
Circularity, material health, and biophilic design
AstraZeneca’s brief called for the building’s sustainability ambitions to be both visible and tangible while meeting the stringent requirements of laboratory work. Rather than creating an overly clinical environment, UNS sought to provide spaces that are calm, comfortable, functional, and supportive throughout the working day. Circular and biophilic design therefore became organising principles for the interiors.
Biophilic design was used to bridge the highly controlled laboratory environment with connections to nature. Fully glazed walls provide continuous views outdoors, allowing researchers to experience changing seasons and daylight throughout the day. On the facade, the i-Mesh shading creates a dappled light effect intended to evoke sunlight filtering through leaves.
Inside, the traditional ‘sterile white’ associated with laboratory corridors was consciously avoided in favour of natural, earthy tones that provide visual warmth. Laboratories and open offices are integrated on the same floor plan, allowing researchers to move directly between laboratory environments and workspaces characterised by softer, natural materials.
Material selection was considered from the outset. Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) were used as a key assessment tool and cross-referenced against the project’s LCA and embodied carbon targets, with bio-based and recycled content prioritised where viable. The team also considered factors beyond carbon, including indoor air quality, with maximum VOC emission thresholds incorporated into the specifications.
The colour palette was informed by an analysis of Impressionist landscape painting and the tones that recur in depictions of the natural world. This translated into tiles referencing natural stone, extensive use of timber, a planted wall at the entrance, and textiles with patterns derived from natural forms.
The interiors were developed as an integral part of the wider architectural and environmental strategy. Where highly innovative sustainable products exceeded budget constraints, the team sought commercially available alternatives with comparable characteristics, retaining circularity and reduced environmental impact wherever the brief and available market allowed.
One Helix also represents a development in UNS’s approach to interior design. It was the studio’s first project in which every material was evaluated for its properties before its appearance, an approach that is now informing subsequent workplace projects.
UNS team
Ben van Berkel, Arjan Dingsté with René Toet and Ilaria Ronchi, Reinier Kok, Albert Gnodde, Borja Fernández Flórez, Tom Minderhoud, Milou van Min, Regiane Fernandes, and Evelina Ilina.
