The 17,500 sqm project on the King’s Building campus consolidates the existing accommodation into one building.

The new design will encourage communication between researchers and at the same time inspire students by allowing them to see the entire workings of a department.

A reinterpretation of the typical laboratory layout will achieve transparency throughout the building, visually connecting write-up areas, laboratories, group rooms and offices. The building will be unified by a dramatic central atrium.

Professor Sandy Tudhope, head of School of Geosciences at the University of Edinburgh, said: “The School of Geosciences will be more than just a place of work and learning – it will be an inclusive and diverse community that reaches out to the city and beyond, where chance interactions between diverse users add to the creative flair and shared experience.”

Hannah Lawson, project director at JMP, added: “Our concept for the new building for the University of Edinburgh School of GeoSciences is for a global meeting place - a vibrant space that creates an atmosphere of discovery and encourages the interaction and exchange of ideas relating to the factors and forces that shape our world. The new building will significantly enhance the School’s reputation as a world-class academic community.”