Summary
¦ The Linburn Centre has won an RIAS award.
¦ Its shape was inspired by a Chinese sculpture.
¦ JJI-Joists manufactured into panels form the external walls.
¦ The I-joists give additional depth, enabling extra insulation to be used.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Actually, the Linburn Centre, a curving, larch-clad building with an undulating, zinc roof which houses the new £2.65m facility for the Scottish War Blinded, owes its flowing shape to a hand-carved Chinese sculpture.
“When we first visited the existing 1950s facility at Wilkieston, West Lothian, back in February 2009, one of our team spotted a memorial plaque which featured a carved Chinese celestial dragon,” explained Jamie Hamilton, project architect with Glasgow practice Page/Park. “The carving inspired us both in terms of its twisting shape and form, but also its associated Chinese symbolism and its resonances with the armed forces.”
Completion
Work began on the project in November 2009 and is just reaching completion. The 800m², single-storey building houses a workshop, art space, training areas, a gym, therapy spaces and offices, as well as a remembrance room. The design has a strong focus on internal flow, with a mainly open plan arrangement fed by one circulation spine.
“Given that the main users of the building will all be visually impaired, the internal organisation of the building had to be as simple as possible so that the users can form a mental picture of the building, and navigate their way about it with ease and independence,” said Mr Hamilton.
Structurally, the building consists of a series of steel portal frames which, said project engineer Douglas Walker of engineering consultants SKM Global, “allowed the complex curved geometry to be achieved using simple construction techniques which could be erected quickly and safely on site”.
External walls
The external walls, which support the larch cladding and the windows, are all formed from James Jones’s FSC-certified, UK-produced JJI-Joists. Used vertically and manufactured into panels, the JJIs were specified for several reasons.
“The client’s brief was that the building should be environmentally friendly,” said Mr Walker, “and from the architectural point of view the JJI-Joists gave additional depth and so enabled extra insulation to be used, giving the building a more energy-efficient performance. In addition, the depth of the studs also meant that the supporting steel columns of the main frame could be hidden within the external walls, ensuring the curves of the façade were uninterrupted.
“From a structural point of view the JJIs were specified because they provided an efficient, lightweight and easy to install solution for the façade,” he continued. “The low weight-to-depth ratio was particularly important as the joists had to span up to 5m in places.”
The JJI-Joist panels were installed on a curve and, to achieve this detail, the head and base of the panels were guided into place with specially formed plywood templates.
This was a complex detail, in a complex building, according to Grant Macintosh of contractor WH Brown. However, he added: “The technique using plywood templates, combined with the generally easy handling of the JJI-Joist panels, made the construction process much simpler.”
