THE
CONVERSION OF THE
ARCHER EXCHANGE, SNEINTON
Introduction
The existing telephone exchange building comprised of basement and ground
floors with four storeys of open plan office areas above. Each floor was
accessed by an existing staircase at either end of the building with an
existing lift at the northwest corner.
These circulation areas were expressed as brick volumes at either end with the main offices areas contained between. The office areas were formed by a concrete encased steel frame, and the external envelope a mixture of glazing, glass blocks and brick infill panels. The concrete encased steel frame was expressed externally and gave the building its unique character.
The brief was to provide the maximum number of student bedrooms in the existing building with additional two or three storeys of new build accommodation above. The refurbishment and the new build elements of the design were separate packages in their own right with their own inherent problems to be overcome. However, the overall design took elements from both refurbishment and new build, and each one informed the other to achieve a coherent whole.
The Refurbishment
From its inception the large floor to ceiling height of the existing building
(approximately 4.3m), informed the design of the bedrooms by allowing the
possibility of a duplex style arrangement with a bed deck level enclosing
an en-suite WC and shower area underneath. The bed deck and toilet cores
were arranged back to back along a central access corridor, thus exploiting
the exiting apertures and allowing the maximum amount of daylight into bedrooms
and kitchens.
It was also agreed, early on in the design process, to set out the bedrooms on the existing 12ft structural grid. This facilitated the construction process and meant that each bedroom 'pod' was expressed externally by the existing concrete structure.
The external rhythm was dependant on this existing concrete structure, while the new build section above informed the material treatment. Existing windows were replaced with double glazed aluminium windows and new openings created in the existing brick panels. The existing concrete frame was in a bad state of repair and as such, it was decided to overclad the vertical concrete fins and horizontal elements with powder coated aluminium flashings. The main infill panels comprised of powder coated composite panels with a fine micorib profile, vertically laid to follow the vertical emphasis of the existing concrete fins.
The New Build
As the structural grid matched the existing and each column clad with a
profiled flashing, the verticality of the existing building was emulated
in the new build. The main cladding panels comprised of powder-coated composite
panels, as used on the existing building below.
The massing of the existing building was identified as two brick circulation cores enclosing a lightweight concrete framed element. The design ethos of the new build was a simple extension of the existing building underneath, i.e. vertical circulation extended at either end with the main body of accommodation located centrally. However, the floor-to-floor height was kept to a minimum for commercial reasons and to keep the overall height of the building within acceptable levels.
The circulation cores were picked out in a different coloured panel to the main body of the cladding and stepped back to provide a horizontal break between existing and new build elements. Feature sections were used to pick up floor levels and add detail to the flat panel system. The new lift core at the South West corner reinforces the vertical emphasis throughout the scheme and provides a physical and visual link between existing and new build
The top storey also steps back from the line of the main building to create a maintenance walkway, and lift shafts penetrate through the roof to create lift motor rooms. The articulation of the upper floors, culminating in the lift shafts and flagpole, serves to draw the eye upwards and serves to reinforce the vertical emphasis of the scheme.
Gavin Richards
Franklin Ellis Architects
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