Wolfgang Buttress's solar-responsive facade for Nottingham's Discovery Building

The Discovery Building, a new bioscience hub in Nottingham, features a hi-tech facade by artist Wolfgang Buttress that responds to solar activity. Designed with physicist Martin Bencsik of Nottingham Trent University, the installation, titled Corona, uses aluminum tubular elements to control heat gain and light. It connects to two NASA satellites to monitor the Sun's surface, translating solar fluctuations into a fiber-optic light display on the building's exterior. The colors change over a 26.5-day cycle, matching the Sun's rotation. The building, designed by local firm cpmg, is part of a £6 million investment plan for the Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham, and Nottinghamshire areas. It spans nearly 5,000 square meters over five floors, with state-of-the-art chemistry and biology labs, offices, conference spaces, and commercial areas. The project continues BioCity Group's expansion, which already operates a 10,000-square-meter incubator in Nottingham opened in 2003, plus facilities in Alderley Park and near Glasgow, hosting over 200 companies.