img(height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=2939831959404383&ev=PageView&noscript=1")

Luminous cladding

Students have given the new Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) at The University of Sheffield a podium finish.

Credit: Bond Bryan Architects

This luminous four-storey cube, design by Bond Bryan architects, appears both solid and translucent at the same time. The outer panels of the main building are clear while those at the rear are faced with yellow to contrast against black industrial style workshops.

The building is designed for use in high-level apprentice training in Formula One, aerospace and energy for Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) at The University of Sheffield. The brief required an aesthetically appealing building that achieved a BREEAM “Very good” rating.

Architect Jon Rigby said ‘We wanted a design which achieved a translucent layered quality to the main elevation and assumed different appearances depending on the lighting conditions. It was also important for the entire skin to be monolithic without panel modules and the 18m high Rodeca panels allowed us to achieve this in an elegant way,’ he said.

Around 1,800m2 of Rodeca’s 40mm PC 2540-4 wall panel was used for the rainscreen and internal cladding. These panels were fixed to bespoke bracket systems. With some of the panels 18m in length – the longest ever supplied in the UK – the installation provided some unique challenges, but the end result is quite striking.

For more information visit www.rodeca.co.uk

  • Credit: Bond Bryan Architects
  • Credit: Bond Bryan Architects
12

Latest

Circularity was a critical part our new studio fit-out, says Joe Morris, which has improved facilities, an onsite café, more space and a public-facing ‘shopfront’

Circularity was central to the fit-out, says Joe Morris

It’s not just crises like RAAC or Grenfell that mean architects must keep on top of legal and regulatory issues. But delight and creativity are important too

Misrepresentation brings both pain and pleasure

Low-carbon upgrades to iron and steelworks could remove nearly 60 gigatonnes of carbon from the world’s atmosphere, although cost and other factors challenge its practicality

We could remove nearly 60 gigatonnes of carbon from the world

Paul Cashin Architects & Keith Evans Architects’ transformation of a Southampton department store into a secondary school with community learning spaces is the overall winner of this year's West Fraser SterlingOSB Zero/RIBAJ competition

The retrofit of a Southampton department store into a secondary school has won this year's West Fraser SterlingOSB Zero/RIBAJ competition

This year's SterlingOSB Zero competition called on entrants to redevelop a department store into a mid-sized secondary school

This year's SterlingOSB Zero competition asked entrants to redevelop a department store into a secondary school