PROJECT: Block D

LOCATION: Masshouse, Birmingham

DATE: 2006 - completion 2009

Following on from our masterplan for Masshouse Circus, we have developed proposals for a ten storey office block with ground floor retail. The building has been designed to be site-responsive and to utilise low-energy and renewable technologies.

The deep, banded shading of the south elevation and the vented wall of glazing on the north façade, carefully manage the solar gain and natural daylight implications of a wide, tall building. These reductions in energy load are further reduced by means of a site-wide Combined Cooling Heat and Power plant (CCHP) as well as rooftop photovoltaics which power the public realm lighting.

A two storey colonnade runs along the court elevation, in anticipation of the colonnades to the future Blocks A and B. These will be used as a device to unify the separate buildings around the court.