Savill Building

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Savill Building
Building
Type Visitor Centre / Pavilion
Structural System Timber gridshell
Location Windsor, England
Construction
Completed 2006
Main Contractor Green Oak Carpentry Company
Design Team
Architect Glen Howells Architects
Structural engineer Buro Happold & Robert Haskins Waters Engineers
Services engineer Buro Happold

The Savill Building is a visitor centre at the entrance to The Savill Garden in Windsor Great Park, designed by Glen Howells Architects, Buro Happold and Robert Haskins Waters Engineers. It was opened by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh on the 26th June, 2006.

Contents

[edit] The Building

The building is located on the space of a mature beech tree plantation which was severely damaged in the hurricane of 1986. All remaining mature trees were retained in the scheme. The Stirling Prize judges describe it as:[1]

"This project is a good modern interpretation of that great British traditional form: the Pavilion in the Park."

[edit] Gridshell Roof

The roof is the dominant feature of the building:

"So what you have is effectively a great big weather-sealed canopy, perched on dynamically angled steel legs. It is the ultimate summerhouse, the granddaddy of gazebos."
Hugh Pearman[2]

The building has a 'three-domed' sinusoidal shaped gridshell roof of two layers of interlocking larch lathes[3] (50x80mm) on a one metre square grid, supported on steel quadropods and a steel tubular ring-beam. The exact form of the roof was designed by Buro Happold to be the most structurally efficient possible using specialist in-house software (Tensyl). The roof is clad in plywood panels, with aluminium weather proofing and an top cladding of oak. All timber was harvested from the nearby Crown Estate. The roof is over 90m in length and up to 25m wide, and because of its own separate structural system appears to hover over the brick and glass facade of the building.

The carpentry, which used over 400 larch trees and 20 skilled carpenters, was done by the Green Oak Carpentry Company.[4]

[edit] The exterior

The roof structure remains exposed from the inside, and is the most eye-catching feature of the building. The entrance is covered by a green roof, which is planted with juniper. The exterior cladding of the building is a full-height glass curtain walling system, providing spectacular views from inside and creating a stunning lighting effect in the dark.[5]


[edit] The Interior

The building, which is partially below ground level, contains a shop, seminar rooms, offices, planteria (small garden centre) and restaurant, with a raised terrace along one edge allowing panoramic views over the gardens from the centre’s interior spaces. Below the entrance there is a basement housing service spaces including the kitchen, storerooms and washrooms.

The large main internal space is subdivided by Corian 'pods' which are separate from the main building structure and do not detract from the impression given by the space created largely by the roof.

[edit] Awards

The building was shortlisted for the 2007 Stirling Prize.

The structural design won the IStructE Structural Awards Supreme Award for Structural Engineering Excellence in 2007, in addition to the Award for Arts, Leisure or Entertainment Structures.

At the 2007 RIBA Awards it also won a RIBA Award and a RIBA National Award.

At the 2007 Wood Awards it won:

  • Gold Award
  • Commercial and Public Access Award
  • Structural Award

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.architecture.com/Awards/RIBAAwards/Winners2007/South/TheSavillBuilding/TheSavillBuilding.aspx
  2. ^ Hugh Pearman http://www.hughpearman.com/2006/20.html
  3. ^ Buro Happold website http://www.burohappold.com/BH/BHTemplate8.aspx?ID=972C0265E711C68A1A18172CD7D066AA
  4. ^ The Guardian, Monday 31st July, 2006 (http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1834019,00.html)
  5. ^ http://www.e-architect.co.uk/oxford/savill_building.htm http://www.e-architect.co.uk/oxford/savill_building.htm http://www.e-architect.co.uk/oxford/savill_building.htm