Watch the AT Schüco webinar exploring the design and specification of three award-winning facades by Barbara Weiss Architects, Squire & Partners, and Niall Mclaughlin Architects.

What is involved in the successful rejuvenation of a historic 19th century residential block? How can a modern housing development assimilate its rich industrial context? And what is thinking that goes into creating student accommodation that interacts with its urban context while also respecting students’ privacy?

These questions and more were addressed in this AT Schüco webinar, where three of the winners of the 2022 Schüco Excellence Awards explored the thought processes that went into the design of their residential building facades. The event was chaired by Ruth Slavid, and the speakers were Barbara Weiss and Karl Singporewala, directors of Barbara Weiss Architects; Murray Levinson, partner at Squire & Partners; and Holly Galbraith, associate at Niall Mclaughlin Architects.

Speakers from left to right: Barbara Weiss, Karl Singporewala, Holly Galbraith, and Murray Levinson

Barbara Weiss and Karl Singporewala explored The Marlo in London’s Marylebone, which won the refurbishment and adaptive reuse category. The scheme comprises the refurbishment and extension of seven adjacently located – mainly historic – buildings with high-quality rented apartments organised around a reclaimed central courtyard.

Weiss said that ‘successful refurbishments need to be both subtle and sensitive to context, delivering buildings that have a strong continuity to the past while simultaneously managing to be spatially exciting, refined and total appropriate to their new use.’ Central to The Marlo project has been the creation of a landscaped courtyard – previously occupied by plant and used as a dumping space ­– around which flows ‘cloistered’ circulation and new cores.

Designed by Barbara Weiss Architects, The Marlo is a high-specification, mixed-use refurbishment project in London, including 31 rented apartments organised around a landscaped courtyard (ph: Paul Riddle)

The project adopted two different facade strategies on account of the building’s location in the Harley Street Conservation Area. The shop fronts on the high street side incorporate new Portland stone surrounds, while the brickwork and stone cornices of the upper floors have been carefully cleaned. All the existing windows were replaced with sympathetic timber sash and casement units, featuring double-glazing and ‘invisible’ tickle vents.

The architect makes a clear distinction between the scheme’s old and new elements, with larger steel-framed Janisol Arte 2.0 windows contrasting the restored Victorian sash-windows on the street elevations (ph: Paul Riddle)

The new-build element on the courtyard side is rendered in red brickwork. This contrasts with the existing yellow London Stock buildings, and according to Singporewala, required convincing the local planners. The latter agreed to the colour change on the grounds that it signifies the shared social spaces and represents the notion of ‘bringing the high street into the development.’

Sliding steel and glass doors help to blur the distinction between interior and exterior spaces (ph: Paul Riddle)

Janisol Arte steel windows from Schüco Jansen were chosen to unite the various materials, colours and textures of the courtyard facade. Singporewala said that the units were not only favoured for their slim sightlines and superior thermal performance, but also for reasons of adaptability and versatility. The various windows form part of ‘family of products’ which cater for scheme’s public and private spaces, while providing a strong sense of visual cohesion.

Designed by Squire & Partners, Luma King’s Cross forms part of London’s King’s Cross Central development, and comprises adjacent 8- and 11-storey residential blocks surrounded by landscaped gardens (ph: Jack Hobhouse)

Murray Levinson presented Luma King’s Cross, London, which was this year’s residential development winner. Located on a slender, east-west-facing plot between Lewis Cubitt Park and Jellicoe Gardens, the building comprises adjacent 8- and 11-storey blocks housing a total of 61 apartments. The architect said that the facade design was influenced not only by the plan, whose geometry is partly informed by the surrounding structures, but also the section, which comprises ‘interlocking’ flats with ‘height-and-a-half’ living rooms.

The facade combines single- and double-height glazed elements, splayed bays, projecting wedge-shaped balconies and perforated aluminium screens – all set within a rational masonry frame (ph: Jack Hobhouse)  

The colour and tone of the facade materials chosen for the project were partly influenced by the neighbouring buildings: a white-coloured block and a darker brown brick structure. This led to the use of a light-coloured masonry frame and flank walls, contrasted by bronze-coloured fenestration, including aluminium windows and perforated screens, which gradually get lighter in tone on each succeeding floor.

View from inside a typical apartment showing perforated aluminium screen and Schüco ASS 70.HI sliding doors (ph: Patrick Williamson)

Conceived as a ‘lightweight veil’, the perforated aluminium screens are intended to evoke patterns found in nature, as well as the metal train tracks of the nearby goods yard at King’s Cross station. Carefully integrated with the apartments’ sliding doors, the panels ‘cast fabulous shadows during the day and provide an illuminated quality as night’, said Levinson. The architect went onto explain how the panel design ‘evolved’ into more solid versions for the entrance/reception area, and a smaller internal courtyard, which is mainly surrounded by bedrooms.

Designed by Niall McLaughlin Architects, the Master’s Field Development for Balliol College, University of Oxford, includes 225 furnished ensuite study bedrooms and a new sports pavilion (ph: Nick Kane)

Holly Galbraith spoke about the Master’s Field Development for Balliol College, University of Oxford, which not only triumphed in the health, education and leisure category, but was also declared the overall winner. The project comprises eight residential blocks, organised around indoor and outdoor gathering spaces, as well as a single-storey sports pavilion. The latter combines an exposed sweet chestnut lattice structure with large aluminium sliding windows.

The sports pavilion utilises a sweet chestnut lattice structure with Schüco sliding windows providing good daylighting and excellent views of the cricket pitches (ph: Nick Kane)

‘The scheme is about serene inner world of the scholar and collegiate buildings set within the landscape,’ said Galbraith. Responding to its rich context, the project skilfully mediates a shift in scale across the site, changing from domestic-sized structures set back from the street behind walled gardens to more imposing buildings elevated on brick plinths with raked brick joints. The latter acknowledge the nearby Bodleian Law Library, designed by Leslie Martin. Staggered gables on the buildings to the north of the site not only respond to the library, but also St Cross Church and Holywell Manor.

The facades combine skilfully detailed and executed brickwork with Schüco AWS 70.HI and AWS 70 BS.HI windows and bespoke ‘woven’ spandrel panels (ph: Nick Kane)

The study bedrooms within each block are articulated as facade bays set between brick-faced piers. Aluminium windows are visually held in place by precast concrete panels with a ‘woven’ motif on the outer face. The panel design is intended to ‘evoke the idea of screens and tapestries which form room dividers and elements for enclosure,’ explained Galbraith.

The architect also discussed the thinking behind the corner rooms, which are anchored by precast concrete piers set at 45 degrees to the plan. ‘This allow for the thinness of the pier to be read internally, while its depth is revealed externally,’ said Galbraith. The glazing line is set back from the piers, allowing these structural elements to provide good levels of privacy for the students.