Alnwick Gardens,
Visitor Centre
Northumberland, UK
Year:
2005
Material:
ETFE, PTFE-coated glass fabric,
Flexible thermal insulation
Area:
2,700 m² (344 cushions 2.8 x 2.8m)
Client:
The Alnwick Garden Trust Ltd
Architect:
Hopkins Architects, UK
Engineering:
Buro Happold Engineers, UK
An Environmental Entrance
The Visitor Centre and Pavilion provide a theatrical entry point to the gardens which front the world famous ‘Harry Potter’ castle. The buildings, designed by Hopkins Architects London, reflect an original 19th century pavilion glass house though now with a modern barrel-vaulted gridshell design utilising the latest environmentally advanced materials.
More than 340 multi layer pneumatic cushions measuring 2.8 by 2.8 m, made from ETFE, PTFE and flexible thermal insulation cover the two roofs as a homogeneous structure. The cushions were designed with different combination of layers to meet the performance requirements of each zone within the buildings. The project is one of the first to be completed world-wide to incorporate multi-layer cushions comprising of differing material types.
Another application where Hightex’s position as a world leader in creating tensile structures and fabric architecture in tensioned membranes such as PTFE, PVC, and ETFE is realised.
