Alconbury Incubator | Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

The Alconbury Incubator anchors an emerging Enterprise Campus to catalyse the development of a new mixed-use community on a former RAF airfield near Huntingdon, 60 miles north of London. A narrow and transparent two-storey volume runs parallel to the site’s new boulevard and kicks up at its north-east corner to enclose a four-storey tower that both announces the site and offers a bird’s eye view across the emerging masterplan. Behind it sits a two-storey black box, larch-clad and punctuated by a grid of large openings that draw natural light in to the flexible working spaces. These spaces, ranging from 380 to 3800 square feet, accommodate local businesses for activities ranging from research and development to production. Auxiliary spaces including a café, a marketing suite, meeting rooms, and break-out balconies are dotted around the glazed gallery to animate the building’s public face and engender opportunities for social exchange.

AHMM and Urban & Civic have remained true to the idea of providing a high quality, multi-tenanted office space that is truly flexible and sustainable. The Incubator Building is architecturally characterful and suitable in size and scale for both the current military context and for the developing scene in years to come. The black exterior embraces the context referring to its solid military and industrial neighbours. By contrast, the lightweight glazed frontage is transparent, porous and convivial with activity alluding to new life at Alconbury. This glazed elevation encloses the public realm which has been carefully considered to encourage interaction between the public and tenants alike, through the use of informal meetings and chance encounters. The office areas are designed with oversized windows offering a framed view to its characterful context, linking the building users of its history and the exciting potential development in future. Uninterrupted views can be absorbed from the tower meeting rooms and roof terrace making for a truly inspiring workplace.

The brief was to design a flexible workspace environment that would exceed office standards and create an inspiring place to work. The Incubator Building has provided the perfect opportunity for AHMM and Urban & Civic to build on their combined experience of delivering contemporary design within an area of strong, existing heritage.
The project team’s aims were very simple:
- Creation of a landmark building with clear identity on a prominent corner site.
- Creation of useable, comfortable and desirable office spaces with a minimum internal area target of 9,000 sqft.
- The ability to become multi-let units with horizontal and vertical capabilities.
- Creation of an active front façade overlooking a new main boulevard.
- Making best use of height within low-lying land to harness incredible views.
The Incubator carries the weight of future development on its shoulders; the vision for the Incubator Building is an exciting and dynamic first element of development for Alconbury Weald and the Enterprise Campus. The Incubator defies the norm of monotonous sameness. Instead, it offers difference, delight and incidence: a truly enjoyable place to work and take inspiration from.