The Berrill Building forms a new entrance to the Open University campus, providing visitor, reception and conference facilities including an exhibition space, café and 250-seat lecture theatre, constructed within an existing BBC television studio. Its main function, however, is to provide office space for 450 people in three departments: academic administration, the Institute of Educational Technology and the Knowledge Media Institute. 

The 7,500sqm building provides low energy accommodation by incorporating simple passive systems including optimising natural daylight, ventilation and shading systems which can be operated by individual users. The building, orientated on a north/south axis, combines different approaches to reducing solar gain on each elevation.