This proposal is for a new office, truck workshop and plant yard development for a civil engineering firm. For the office building we have taken the concept of a long linear layout together with the south facing monopitch idea for PV and developed this into a rational plan and ‘extruded’ section using a 30° pitch on the front and 10° pitch on the back allowing a row of north facing roof lights to bring light into the spine corridor and offering some natural ventilation.

The structure has been designed using insulated Beco blocks with a SIPs panel roof, but a number of construction methods could be accommodated. Cladding to walls and roof is proposed as TATA steel’s Colour Coat Urban standing seam steel cladding with 156m² PV panels integrated into the roof in a series of clusters; natural western red cedar cladding is proposed on the north and east elevations to soften the impact on the neighbouring residential property. We have shown varied window arrangements to allow daylight and view, together with further roof-lighting to the deep plan spaces; we have also placed large glazed areas in the meeting room spaces providing views across the fields.

For the workshop we proposed a fairly standard steel portal frame structure with 6m bay size and 5m wide x 6m high doors, the building takes form and styling cues from the office building to create a ‘family’ relationship between the two, especially important given the workshop’s proximity to the highway. The south roof slope over sails the ridge to create a similar effect to the section of the office building, incorporating rooflights on the steep north-facing slope. Materials compliment the office building but will be drawn from more industrial products such as single skin profiled cladding and a robust brickwork base.