invited competition - winner
fountain street

Property firm Bruntwood organised an invited competition to design a new office block in the heart of Manchester City Centre. The  requirement to provide a minimum 50,000sq ft on a relatively small city centre site have lead to a 16  storey proposal.

The key design objectives have lead to a very simple legible floor plate, made architecturally exciting by subtle angling of the building facades giving a variety of floor plate sizes. The entrance foyer and neighbouring retail unit are designed to give an active and inviting street level setting.

The core, clad in limestone, acts as an architectural device for terminating Lowry House and allowing the new tower to be realised with individual identity and expression.

The slab form of the core is designed to support the floor plates in addition to small perimeter columns giving column free floor plates to achieve maximum internal flexibility.  The pattern formed on the façade by the structure is fully integrated within the curtain walling design, allowing a primary design objective, a highly glazed building, to be achieved.  The core is counter balanced on its western flank with water filled tanks that also have an environmental function as heat sinks for absorption of the buildings solar and operational heat gains.