An education centre shaped like a oversized neuron cell, designed by the late Will Alsop for his practice All Design, has opened at Centre of the Cell in Whitechapel, London.
Named Neuron Pod, the free-standing science education space was designed by Alsop as a direct representation of a neuron cell ? a specialised cell that transmits information in the brain.
"The new pod is based on a neuron cell, a nerve cell that processes and transmits information, with dendrites which appear as hairs growing out the main cell," Marcos Rosello, co-founder of All Design told Dezeen.

The building is an extension to Centre of the Cell, a science learning-centre located in the Blizard Institute biomedical research building at Queen Mary, University of London, which Alsop designed in 2005. The pod continues an idea developed at this building, where the meeting rooms are each large three-dimensional depictions of cells.

All Design chose the shape of a neuron after the university asked which cells could be scaled-up to create a building alongside the laboratory.
"At our first meeting with the client we were given a pack of Top Trumps Cells cards and were asked to consider a cell which could be used as a reference point for a new pod in the mews," said Rosello.
"As well as being an interesting shape the neuron cell was particularly fitting for a community engagement purpose as the role of a neuron is to transmit information."

The 23-metre long and 10-...