The shape of the building naturally dictates that the core is placed in the crux of the ‘V’, with a ground floor reception and circulation area and clusters of four rooms with shared facilities coming off at each level


both complements those buildings, yet is outstanding in its own right and enhances the dramatic impact of the prow. Introduce a strong colour and a building becomes memorable even if people don’t know how the building is used or why the colour was selected.”


The gloss-glazed, hand-fired, clay tiles made specifically for the project by French company Terreal undeniably demand attention with their colour and finish. Most are uniformly sized, flat and smooth, some have been profiled to lean out from the side to ‘roughen-up’ the facade and create interest, fading away to smoothness towards the ‘prow.’ Similarly, strip windows on the facades not only create a linear, ship-like effect but subtly move in and out of different planes, adding further movement and texture. Ayres explains: “We spent a lot of time modelling the facade to see how it would look and behave and, onsite the excellent facade sub-contractor, Dane Architectural, understood exactly the effect we were trying to achieve, and paid great care and attention to the detail. “We love that serious lustre and the way light and shadow plays across it. On good, sunny days you get fantastic reflections in the facade and the building seems to almost dissolve into the sky.”


Given that decorative tiling is vulnerable to damage at street level, the base has been clad in hard-wearing, blue, smooth and wire-cut engineering bricks, in a chequered bond.


Reflective


The courtyard and inward-facing facades of the building transition the building away from the green and linear theme to a silver-grey, vertical one, with aluminium cladding and glazing used to capture and throw light around. “As you move inwards, the chequered


ADF JUNE 2017


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