Brockholes Visitor centre Model

Materials & Methods Studio

This project involved the study of a built project by the architect Adam Khan. The assignment was to create a 1/2” scale section model of a single building in the visitor centre. The project was assigned to the first year bachelor program and the first year masters program students. This project was awarded a jury selection prize and is on display in the school library.

 
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Brockholes Visitor Centre 

Architect : Adam Khan 

Location : Samlesbury, Lancashire

Project : New visitor centre and masterplan

Client : Lancashire Wildlife Trust

Duration : 2008 - 2012

Status : Built

  • The entire centre is built on a large concrete pontoon on a lake within the wetland reserve so that the building touches lightly to the environment and can adjust to the changes of that environment.

  • The architecture was in response to the difficulty of building on an area prone to flooding.

  • The pontoon was made by casting concrete around large polystyrene void formers, forming a solid yet buoyant raft foundation for the buildings.

  • The pontoon is kept anchored in place by four piles embedded in the lakebed and accessed via articulating bridges, which allow the building to rise in flood conditions.

  • The timber buildings are built from glulam portal frames under a timber Structural Insulated Panels (SIP) ‘skin’ that provides racking resistance to the buildings while ensuring a high level of insulation and air tightness.

  • The splaying V-shaped glulam rafters are up to 10m long, joined with steel flitch plates due to their complex geometry and high connection forces.

  • The buildings are clad in oak shingles: rough tiles formed from tree stumps that would otherwise have been discarded. 

  • A recycled newspaper insulation was sprayed on to the underside of the SIPs, providing an excellent low-cost and sustainable acoustic dampening in public areas.

  • The project aimed for zero-carbon both in use and production, using materials of low embodied energy, high levels of thermal insulation and building airtightness, natural ventilation, and off-site prefabrication as well as on-site energy generation and waste treatment.