10 December 2010
The Cube Is Unveiled – The Largest UK Application Of Wicona Unitised Curtain Walling
The Cube in Birmingham has been unveiled. Featuring 20,000 Wicona unitised panels that form a dramatic, glistening façade, the project is the UK's largest application of Wicona's façade system.
Designed by Make, this exceptional £100m 23-storey mixed-use scheme has pushed the boundaries of design and construction. The 42,000m2 development was inspired by Birmingham's jewellery and engineering heritage, and is based on the concept of a jewellery box.
The bespoke façade was constructed and installed by HAGA using Wicona unitised curtain walling to provide a geometric blend of projecting gold, silver and bronze anodised aluminium panels and glass. This intricate design is complemented by a decorative metallic fretwork screen.
The 20,000 panels have three different depths, casting a variety of shadows to add texture to the external façade. The internal elevations are different but no less dramatic, designed to emphasise 'the jewels within the box'. Here, glazed unitised panels twist up through a central courtyard and 'explode' at the top to crown the building with the city's first rooftop restaurant.
The Wicona unitised façade was engineered to allow a higher degree of movement, and removed the need for scaffolding and material storage on this constrained city centre site. Its off-site fabrication also allowed each floor to be clad ready for earlier fitting out as the building rose upwards.
Commenting on the building's design and specification, Frances Gannon, Partner at Make, said, "The building acts as a protective metal box, pure in form, assembled from a multitude of glistening components, which give way to a glassy, crystalline interior of light and colour."
"The specially-designed unitised cladding solution has been an important part of the building's identity and successfully echoes the city's heavy engineering heritage. We are delighted with the end result, which is very beautiful, providing a strong contrast between the external façade and the crisp appearance of the courtyard elevations."
Paul Ruddick, Specification Manager at Wicona in the UK, said, "This is Wicona's largest project in the UK to date and demonstrates how unitised façades can deliver an architect's ambitious vision for a project, different aesthetic requirements for a single scheme and a demanding specification, as well as site-related advantages, such as minimising work on site, and removing the need for material storage space and scaffolding."
"The Cube is very different to any other Wicona application - both in the UK and internationally - and its striking, elegant and intricate appearance is testament to the creativity of the design and development team."
The Cube is a high profile mixed-use project, which has a low energy design. The modular cladding gave the architects the flexibility to tailor the glazing on the external and internal elevations in response to potential solar gain, and provide a high degree of insulation and air tightness, as well as a low U value façade.
The project has created a spectacular new 'entrance' to the canal network and city centre, accommodating a 44-bedroom boutique hotel, four floors of waterside retail and restaurants, 244 apartments, Grade A offices for a regional department of the Highways Agency, a rooftop restaurant, and sky bar.
Editors' Notes
1. The project team for the Cube:
- Client: Birmingham Development Company
- Architects: Make
- Structural engineers:Buro Happold
- Façade fabrication/installation: HAGA
- Unitised system: Wicona
2. The advantages of the Wicona unitised façade approach include:
- the façade panels are manufactured off site - a highly efficient solution for sites with restricted access
- the units can be fixed to steel or concrete frames and installed using a crane or monorail system without the need for scaffolding
- earlier fitting out and a faster return on investment for the developer
- reductions in time on site by up to 70 per cent
- improved safety - fewer operatives on site and scaffolding may not be required
- there is no limit on building movement
- high quality and performance because the façade panels are completed off site in a controlled factory environment
- accurate installation and interfaces
- cost savings on site preliminaries and scaffolding
- storage of cladding materials and glass handling on site is eliminated - a major advantage for constrained city centre sites
- panel sizes up to 4m x 4m can easily be accommodated.
3. Images copyright Make, Craig Holmes, Zander Olsen
4. Hydro Building Systems is the largest supplier of aluminium glazing systems in Europe, which includes the Wicona brand. Wicona is the first façade specialist in the UK to design and oversee complex and unitised façade projects.
