Unimed Pharmaceuticals

Unimed Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceutical Factory Masterplan · Uzbekistan · 2018

The Unimed Pharmaceuticals masterplan is a 12.5-acre pharmaceutical campus proposal for UniMed UniHealth Ltd in Uzbekistan, one of 23/90 Architects' international commissions and a project that demanded a planning intelligence quite different from the individual building designs that form the bulk of the practice's work. The brief required a fully integrated production campus, with dedicated facilities for multiple pharmaceutical categories, support infrastructure, quality control, and administrative functions, all organised within a coherent site logic that could accommodate growth and phasing over time.

The masterplan distributes the production programme across a series of single-storey and low-rise facilities positioned around a central circulation spine. Dedicated buildings for general dosage forms, cephalosporin production, SVP facilities, inhalation, and solvent storage are separated from one another to meet the strict cross-contamination requirements of pharmaceutical manufacturing, each zone buffered by planted corridors and internal roads wide enough for heavy vehicle access. Utility infrastructure, boiler rooms, and waste management are consolidated at the western edge of the site, keeping service activity away from the primary production and quality zones.

The quality building, which houses QA, QC, R&D, and validation functions, is positioned centrally within the campus, its location reflecting both the operational logic of the facility and the importance of quality oversight as a governing principle of the entire enterprise. The office and canteen building sits at the southern end, closest to the main entrance, separating the administrative and welfare functions from the production core.

The arrival sequence is given particular care. A formal circular forecourt with a central fountain marks the campus gate, establishing a civic threshold between the public road and the controlled production environment within.

The project remains an unbuilt concept with a total construction area of 29,425 sqm.