The building is located on the eastern edge of Manchester City Centre close to Piccadilly Train Station. The high floor to ceiling heights, large windows and open floor plate required by it’s original use as a manufacturer of aeroplane parts make it an ideal space for offices. The brief was to provide modern, flexible office space whilst retaining some of the rough aesthetic of its previous industrial use. It was important to provide a new reception area to announce the building from the outside and update the building generally to offer all the necessary servicing required of a modern office environment.
Internally, the floor plates have been kept as open as possible with the existing and new soffit, columns, beams and walls all painted. The blemishes and industrial quality of the existing building has been exposed rather than hidden away. A new reception space has been created directly off the main road. The level of the floor slab was lowered to street level. New smooth exposed concrete columns and walls are juxtaposed against the existing structure and the polished limestone floor provides a contrast. The reception desk and seating reflect the aeroplane works theme with post bins with aluminium tops designed to be representative of aeroplane wings and a movable lid to the desk area which is opened using hydraulic rails.
The lower ground floor office is accessed directly from the main reception through a tall double height space. Within this space a 6 metre high by 2.5 metre wide solid European Oak bespoke entrance door dominates. This reflects the aeroplane theme as the large door is moved on an exposed track with rollers, similar to that used in aircraft hangars.
The existing building is split into two halves, with the part facing Adair Street built in 1940 and that facing Heyrod Street in 1964. To bring coherence to the external appearance, the lightweight roof over the 1940’s side has been replaced with a flat slab and the peaks on the façade side removed.
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