Intricate building façades can make a significant impact on urban landscapes. They contribute to the visual appeal of a cityscape, adding character, beauty, and uniqueness to the built environment, making it more visually engaging and interesting. Unique façade designs can help buildings and neighbourhoods establish a distinct identity, which can foster a sense of place and community pride.

At Chetwoods, we are considering facades as a key element in our development of new typologies in every sector, including industrial intensification within urban landscapes. We have been exploring how the form and materials of a façade can enhance the sustainable design of co-locating industrial, logistics and data centre uses in urban environments.

Research

This approach is supported by a computer model we have created on which we can trial and scrutinise every detail of a façade’s design and specification: from its orientation and materials, to the relationships it creates between co-located uses and within surrounding areas; for example when considering possible alternative façades for a data centre.

The passive design of façades can be a significant contributor to reducing energy consumption, optimising natural lighting, ventilation and energy efficiency.  This allows features such as shades, louvres, and green walls to be concentrated only in areas where they are needed.

Reflecting Local Context

For projects where new buildings are intensifying brownfield sites by co-locating uses, often within an older urban context, we are specifying façades in a range of materials that reflect and incorporate elements of local history, traditions, and symbolism.

The striking design of the façade for the Stratford scheme (above) responds to the historic and contemporary industrial architecture of its local context in its form and materials to create an engaging character for an urban logistics building. The elevations are broken up to resemble a series of buildings rather than large blocks, giving the impression that the project has evolved organically. Metal cladding aligns with the contemporary context, with accent colours providing identity and wayfinding around the site.

The architectural design of an industrial intensification scheme in Wapping (below) also responds to the fabric of the area’s rich past - from the natural layers of the riverbank to the historic built environment’s varied materials and typologies. Layers of history and activity are echoed in the layering of the new building elevations with the façade reflecting the typologies of historic warehouses, and the prevalence of local brick as a building material. The surface of the façade elevations is broken down into repeating modules, with a mixed palette of materials such as differently coloured reclaimed bricks, timber and greenery, creating visual interest and texture.

‍Enhanced Streetscapes

Well-designed façades can breathe new life into neglected or underutilised areas, enhancing streetscapes to attract residents, businesses, and visitors and promote urban renewal, raising property values and attracting investment.

Our design for the redevelopment and refurbishment of an office building for The Crown Estate at Swallow Place (below) with frontages onto Swallow Place and Oxford Street addressed exterior challenges relating to anti-social behaviour. To combat this, the scheme’s new entrance façade features screens and a canopy to provide a focus to the frontage and an enhanced streetscape.

An innovative concept for a sensitive Industrial Intensification project on the site of the iconic 1928 Art Deco Firestone Building (below) drew on the detail of key architectural features of the original building, including applying a grid based on the historic Art Deco façade to the new frontage behind the retained stepped entranceway to the development.

‍“During a series of workshops  our team shared ideas and sketched out different approaches, eventually developing an intricate design approach that focused on the importance of telling the history and story of this iconic building by referencing it in a series of subliminal design details.”  Laurie Chetwood, Chairman, Chetwoods

This sensitive Industrial Intensification project required an innovative concept as it was situated on a site with a prominent history. The design sought to take historic references from the former 1928 Art Deco Firestone Building and conserve some of the original features on the site.

Brand Identity

At Chetwoods we have always been interested in façades, pioneering new typologies to enhance the aesthetics and reduce visual massing for large out-of-town logistics warehouses such as GLP’s G-Park Doncaster. The iconic blue striped branding for GLP was created with the main goal to blend large logistics buildings into the landscape thus diminishing the scale and easing one's eye.

Overall, intricate building façade design can play a crucial role in shaping the character, liveability, and sustainability of urban landscapes, creating vibrant and dynamic environments for people to live, work, and play.