Shortlist Gallery

Best use of a curtain walling system

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#1 22 Handyside Street – BAM with Fleetwood Architectural Aluminium
At 22 Handyside Street, orientation, cleave, percolation and shine quite literally reflect our approach by making a bright building that is striking in form whilst also carefully considering tenant wellbeing.

This is a luminous, 36,000+ sqft office building which achieves a rating of BREEAM Outstanding. Sat above Grade II-listed mainline and underground railway tunnels, the architecture is a lightweight construction with a structural grid located between the tunnels below. The roof form is directly created by this slanted grid. The façade turns at the apex and valleys of this pitched roof creating civic elevations to York Way and Handyside Street and effortlessly generating an expressive corner between.

22 Handyside Street is built of lightweight concrete and steel, with a façade composed of glazed curtain walling and embossed and perforated anodised aluminium panels. These silver sections enliven the building both inside and out, artfully reflecting the trees of Handyside Gardens and adding depth to the elevation. The material maximises ambient light levels and reflects the rhythmic colours of the London sky throughout the day. The main east/west axis along Handyside Street creates filigree moments of light at sunrise and sunset.

Behind the building’s patterned façade, its interior spaces are lit with naturally dappled light, enhancing well-being for those working in the building. The cut light and accompanying shadows are blocked out, cast shadows on the floor, or, extraordinarily, throw shadows onto the opaque vertical glass. These efforts create a moving wallpaper of light within the office floor improving concentration and connecting users with the passing of time throughout the day. 22 Handyside is a fresh, bright and dynamic place to work that utilises light and shadow driven by the facade to connect users to their environment.

#2 Braywick Leisure Centre – Wates and JPJ Installations with Kawneer
The curtain walling and vertical Brise Soleil at Braywick Leisure Centre combined with the sweeping roof creates a dramatic entrance to this major leisure development. Located at the heart of Maidenhead’s largest public open space, what sets this design apart from more conventional leisure centres, is its relationship with its parkland setting.

On approach, the first-floor curtain walling façade spans vertically the whole width of the front of the building providing a shop window to the large 200 station fitness suite. This creates a dynamic active frontage, which allows its visitors to benefit from panoramic views of the parkland beyond.

With all the facilities of a traditional leisure centre, plus a theatre, meeting rooms and an artisan café. It opened in September 2020 to widespread acclaim, being built on fully sustainable principles. Although larger than the old Magnet Leisure Centre, which it replaces, the new centres eco-friendly approach now uses 70% less energy. (Source Wates construction)

Creating an atmosphere that engenders a sense of well-being for Visitors was fundamental, with a focus on quality of light, that only a curtain walling system could provide, it floods the building with warm Southern light, creating a distinctly bright, open, and airy environment, which reduces the reliance on artificial lighting sources. Natural light stimulates essential biological functions and is vital to our health.

The Kawneer curtain walling incorporated solar reflective glass and polycarbonate panels at high level to further reduce solar gain. Its thermal performance in combination with the Brize Soleil, helps to regulate heating and cooling, this is valuable in terms of sustainable design but also saves money over the lifecycle of the build, paramount in Leisure design.

A successful and admired build, and a destination for the community. Attendance is now well in excess of pre-pandemic levels at the previous facility!

#3 Circle Square – John Sisk with Premo Fabrications
FK Group created a unique solution for Circle Square – an exciting new neighbourhood located on the former BBC site in Manchester city centre. Using bespoke high performance ‘stick’ curtain walling, the imposing building stands out in the heart of the innovation district. Despite the extraordinary challenges, the £26.7m project was successfully completed on time and within budget.