Baker Street, London, UK
Baker Street, London, UK
Make Architects’ renovation of a group of 1950s buildings on Baker Street in London was a huge success. A diamond made of glass and steel is how the complex of buildings showcases Baker Street today. The offices and commercial spaces were completely gutted and renovated, and are now connected by three light-drenched atriums, forming one of the most attractive new architecture projects in England. Three complex modulated glass façades (“masks”) lend a new face to the street, whose most spectacular feature is right in the centre.
An enormous folded plate roof, comprising three triangles and a trapezium sloping towards the street, floats weightlessly 17 metres above a 400-m2 atrium. A steel band stretches diagonally across the surfaces of the three triangles, joining them together into a load-bearing structure that rests motionless on the existing building via hinged columns. The secondary structure divides the large triangular panels into further triangles, with a slender steel cross-section of 100 by 50 millimetres. This is made possible by trussing the panels. Four pressure struts in the form of a pyramid are stretched against four nodes in the grid from below, considerably reducing the bending stress on the individual beams.
An enormous folded plate roof, comprising three triangles and a trapezium sloping towards the street, floats weightlessly 17 metres above a 400-m2 atrium. A steel band stretches diagonally across the surfaces of the three triangles, joining them together into a load-bearing structure that rests motionless on the existing building via hinged columns. The secondary structure divides the large triangular panels into further triangles, with a slender steel cross-section of 100 by 50 millimetres. This is made possible by trussing the panels. Four pressure struts in the form of a pyramid are stretched against four nodes in the grid from below, considerably reducing the bending stress on the individual beams.
The glazing rests on sealing strips, secured mechanically by a plate from the top and sealed with filling rope and silicon jointing. The entire steel structure is welded. The triangular fields were delivered pre-finished in “ladders”, adjusted on scaffolding with temporary supports, and then tacked and welded after final measurement.
The scaled glass façade connected to the front of the building is a global first. The construction of this elaborate geometry was made possible by designing all the components and units entirely in 3D. The four diamond-shaped glass panels come together in at a node. The panels sitting next to each other form the middle level, while the other two fit into the node from the inside and outside. Invisible, but no less spectacular are the two “façade wings” that are suspended with their sides on the adjacent corners of the building, absorbing the movements of the building.
The scaled glass façade connected to the front of the building is a global first. The construction of this elaborate geometry was made possible by designing all the components and units entirely in 3D. The four diamond-shaped glass panels come together in at a node. The panels sitting next to each other form the middle level, while the other two fit into the node from the inside and outside. Invisible, but no less spectacular are the two “façade wings” that are suspended with their sides on the adjacent corners of the building, absorbing the movements of the building.
