07 Feb 2018
FAÇADE award winners 'diverse and remarkable', says SFE board member
BY Lauren Heath-Jones
A trio of British leisure facilities have been honoured in the Façade2017 awards. Established in 2013 by the Society of Façade Engineering, the Façade awards is an international competition that celebrates outstanding and innovative façade projects across three different categories: Façade of the Year: New Build, Façade of the Year: Refurbishment and Outstanding Façade Innovation Award. Danish engineering consultancy firm Ramboll won Façade of the Year: New Build, for the Blavatnik Building, Switchouse Extension of the Tate Modern. Designed by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, the Blavatnik Building was built on three disused oil tanks, and features a twisted, geometric form. Ramboll served as the projects engineering, including structural, geotechnical, civil and façade engineering, and environmental consultants on the project. Dutch technical design agency Octatube won the award in the Façade of the Year: Refurbishment category for the new entrance of the Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum Exhibition Road. Designed by Amanda Levete Architects (AL_A) V&A Exhibition Road consists of a new main entrance, square, cafe, exhibition space and a museum shop. Octatube served as the glass specialist on the projectand was responsible for the design, engineering, production and assembly of the glass elements throughout the project. The Outstanding Façade Innovation Award was jointly awarded to Catalunya-based façade specialist Bellapart and Arap Façade Engineering for the new glass canopy at the entrance of the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge. Designed by London-based architecture firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners & Associates, the canopy is made from specially designed Honeycomb sandwich glass panels and envelopes the hotel’s entrance area and the Sala Carmelo and Blue Bar wings. Saverio Pasetto, façade technical director at Skanska UK and SFE board member, says: "The purpose of the Façade series to recognise and reward excellence in façade design and engineering and thereby to draw attention to the importance of façades in modern architecture." "Each of our winners this year have succeeded admirably in achieving that with façades that are quite diverse but equally remarkable," he adds.
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