Cardiff Design Festival

Brief

The new WJEC building is a stand alone structure, which can be seen from all directions. However the external elevations of the building are of two distinct types: 1) Elevations that are solar-facing 2) Elevations that are shade-facing The design of the building treats the solar-facing and shade-facing elevations quite differently. They deliberately contrast with each other. For the solar-facing elevations a traditional clay hanging tile was used.

Result

he building stands out as an eye-catching landmark on the busiest road in Cardiff, marking a key gateway to the city centre. The natural deformation of the tile surfaces – accented by the screw fixings - creates a varying play of reflected light which, along with the varying colours of the surface, combine to give a beautiful, abstract mosaic effect. Photographs of the finished building are provided – ILLUSTRATION 7 – 10.

Solution

When looked at in plan form, (ILLUSTRATION 2), it can be seen that the principal walls are conceived as continuous, sinuous lines that flow through the plan of the building, giving order and structure to the spatial arrangement. Where these walls turn around corners, they do so with a radiused edge, to suggest that they are flat planes that have been formed into free-standing walls.