One Helix, designed by UNS and developed by Breakthrough Properties for the biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, demonstrates how ambitious sustainability targets can actively shape spatial design. The result is a building that brings together life science laboratories, offices and amenities in a sustainable, commercially realistic, and high-performing workplace.
One Helix was conceived as a net energy positive building and aims to outperform Nearly Zero-Energy Building (NZEB) requirements. Rather than treating sustainability measures as a checklist, the project uses them as the design and decision-making framework from concept ideation to project completion. As such, the project’s sustainability targets have shaped the architecture itself, including its massing, facades, roofscape, material palette, flexibility, and interior atmosphere.
Covering 6,515 m2 and located near the Amsterdam UMC, One Helix combines demanding laboratory functions with a strong, whole life carbon approach. The design features offices, meeting spaces, storage, amenities and technical infrastructure in a flexible building designed to support both current research use and future adaptation.
Reducing the embodied carbon to less than half that typically found in a building of this type in the Netherlands was a major achievement of the project. Rigorous effort was put into the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in order to reduce the amount of materials used and to implement circular materials where possible. Additionally, operational carbon is reduced through a bespoke static sun shading element in combination with passive cooling systems, earning the building BREEAM Outstanding and NZEB certifications.
One Helix demonstrates that a life science building can extend environmental performance while remaining buildable, commercially viable and attractive to tenants.
“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.”
Ben van Berkel, Founder & Principal Architect
From sustainability ambition to design logic
The project began with stringent sustainability requirements tied to the site and development brief. In response, UNS recognised that reducing operational energy alone was not enough. The site and building massing established specific design parameters which required an integrated design response and led to a broader, whole life carbon approach that balances operational energy, embodied carbon, material efficiency, and long-term flexibility.
This was achieved through the careful optimisation of building materials. It was concluded that a hybrid structure with low carbon concrete and steel would outperform a wood structure. One Helix features a lightweight structure that can be taken apart alongside lower cement use through reused urban materials. A simple layout helped reduce environmental impact while making it easier for the building to be adapted later with minimal waste. The building also supports future reuse, with minimal waste, through relatively easily separable components. As such, the project becomes relevant to the wider market, illustrating that material and carbon reductions are possible within familiar construction systems.
Other measures used to support the project’s energy goals include solar panels built into the facade, highly efficient air systems that recover energy, heat exchange systems, ceilings that help regulate indoor temperature naturally, and underground systems for storing thermal energy. These building systems work together with a green roof and water retention to reduce heat island effects, promote biodiversity, and improve climate resilience. Shared electric mobility and charging infrastructure on the basement level further support the project’s low-carbon strategy.
Sustainability informs every design decision
The building’s facade design emerged from performance requirements as much as from aesthetics. Early facade studies focused on reducing thermal heat load, improving daylight and offering working comfort, leading to a clear concept in which the sun shading strategy became integral to the architecture. One Helix’s shading elements, developed with i-Mesh, were designed in response to orientation, solar heat gain and wind load, and were tested through daylight and sunlight studies, as well as mock-ups, to support suitable conditions for both laboratory and office floors.
Woven by robotic arms in a zero-waste production methodology, the screens themselves were formed as rigid, resin-infused elements made from basalt fibre. Their custom pattern was calibrated to balance transparency with solar protection and to meet strict performance tolerances. The system was also designed to remain stable in strong winds and provide a consistent environmental response. This innovative approach led to a unique character defining architectural design.
On circularity, recycled content, and materials
The interior design concept emerged from a direct brief from AstraZeneca: the building should make sustainability visible and felt, while fully supporting the stringent requirements for laboratory work. The design ambition was to avoid an overly clinical atmosphere and instead create spaces that feel supportive, calm, comfortable and functional throughout the working day. As such, UNS focused on circular and biophilic design as the organising principle, responding to the client’s desire for a workplace that felt meaningfully different from a conventional office.
This ambition shaped every material decision from the outset. UNS established a methodology in which Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) were a key factor in material selection. They were cross-referenced against the project’s LCA and embodied carbon targets, with bio-based and recycled content prioritised wherever viable. Crucially, the team went beyond CO2 metrics, also examining indoor air quality, requiring maximum VOC emission thresholds in the specifications.
The colour palette was derived from an analysis of impressionist landscape painting, identifying the tones that recur most consistently in depictions of the natural world: tiles referencing natural stone, timber used throughout, a planted wall at the building’s entrance, and textiles featuring patterns drawn from natural forms.
