OUR LATEST CASE STUDY FOR DOWNLOAD - THE SILVERSTONE WING
« London Metropolitan University »
Sunday, November 21, 2010 at 9:19PM Commended - Exterior Walls Category
- Ash & Lacy Awards 2010
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Metropolitan Works is London’s first Creative Industries Centre, offering digital manufacturing services, IT suites, training and workspace to local creative business and designers.
It is housed in a stunning new £4.5 million building designed by Cartwright Pickard Architects in the East End of London.
Echoing the form making processes undertaken at the Centre, the building was conceived as a series of interlocking volumes unified with a perforated aluminium cladding. On the ground floor level a dramatic frieze by local artist Tom Price has been laser cut into the anodized aluminium panels to give the facade a sense of movement and life.
A double height workshop on ground level contains state of the art rapid prototyping and digital manufacturing equipment. Above ground, 4 storeys of office accommodation were manufactured off site in modular units to overcome issues with site access.
The centre achieves a BREEAM rating of ‘very good’. Sustainability features include green sedum roofs, rainwater harvesting and solar power contributing to hot water provision.
“The new Centre is extraordinary in both its design and purpose. It is the only industrial resource in the middle of London, combining a bureau service, CAD training, and superb Pay and Go project workspace. Metropolitan Works is ultimately modern, understanding the light, flexible, and multidisciplinary working practices of contemporary architecture and design companies. It is the place for realising ideas.”
Matthew Lewis, Manager of Metropolitan Works.
We believe the finished building successfully reflects this world-class Centre of excellence for design and production – and it demonstrates how good, imaginative design can be combined with innovative methods of construction. In addition to the benefit of speed, off-site construction helps to improve the quality of finish and the thermal performance of the building because it is manufactured in a factory environment. This was also a very constrained site with little storage and handling space for materials, which lent itself to the modular building method.”
James Pickard, Director of Cartwright Pickard Architects.