Hounslow House
Developing a brand-new civic centre and combining several public and private functions connecting local communities with their representatives were both very demanding tasks. Not only the architectural brief was beautifully accomplished within a complex building site, but the 16,000m2 Civic Centre managed to enhance Hounslow’s local landscape through its interesting faceted appearance.
Designed by Sheppard Robson, developed by Linkcity and built by Bouygues UK, Hounslow House is a seven-storey structure with public-facing amenities on the ground floor and an adult learning centre, library and registrar services on the first level. The following four floors (2nd to 6th) are part of the council’s new headquarters comprising of office spaces. At the top of the building lays the civic chamber with increased floor-to-ceiling height which encases elements of the external building envelope while offering incredible views of the city.
A challenging aspect of the façade was demonstrated by the anodised aluminium rainscreen panels folded into a consistent 3D shape. The glazed bays were separated by various geometric forms. The frontal rainscreens were elongated to signal both the entrance at the street level and the civic chamber at the top of the building. The depth of the panels varied depending of the façade orientation, creating a universal tone to all elevations.
Solar gain, cooling loads and consequently the energy consumption of the building have been minimised by applying a shading strategy which allowed tracking of the solar path around the building; while natural lighting was maximised by incorporating high levels of glazing.
The panel dimensions were also reduced to 3,700 x 1,900mm in order to limit material waste and embodied carbon.
Hounslow House was completed in January 2019 and handed over to the Hounslow Council at the end of April 2019. The project has been shortlisted for New London Architecture Awards 2016 on the Office category.
Wintech worked with the professional team and contractor towards achieving an overall sustainable scheme, compliant with British Standards and Regulations. Attendance to DTMs, site monitoring and delivering design audits represented the scope of façade consultancy services delivered on the project for client Bouygues UK.