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Menzies (UK) Ltd Jane Burridge at Bennetts Associates Architects The John Menzies headquarters was one of the first buildings to be developed for the prestigious - Richard Meier masterplanned - Edinburgh Park. From the outset the client sought to align the changing needs of their business with the building design and in stark contrast to their existing accommodation - a warehouse in Edinburgh's Newtown - the brief demanded a building with a high quality workspace, well engineered with good attention to detail and energy efficiency. The building was designed as a simple quadrangle. A 12m wide floorplate wraps around an atrium on 3 sides. On the fourth side a transparent narrower block of accommodation is located which contains the restaurant, boardroom and meeting spaces. This organisation affords fine views of the park landscape, the lochan and the Pentland hills throughout the building. Through careful analysis of local climatic conditions, a low energy strategy for the building was developed. Although there are opening windows with interstitial solar shading at the perimeter supplementary fresh air is provided mechanically from the floor void. This and the thermal mass of the structure meant less than 10% of the office areas required air conditioning. The simplicity of the building form is also carried through to the materials - a select palette of frameless glass, steamed beech and exposed concrete - and the detailing. Jane Burridge had a key role in this project, setting up Bennetts Associates Edinburgh office when the project began on site and being the architect on site through-out the construction. Completion: September 1995
Awards:
Edinburgh Architectural Association Award 1995 |
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