Buro Happold teams up with Edward Cullinan Architects on The Gateway
Construction of a state-of-the-art visitor centre at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh began in early September, the first major project to start on site since the opening of Buro Happold’s Edinburgh office.
In collaboration with Edward Cullinan Architects, multi-disciplinary consulting engineer Buro Happold has designed the two-storey centre, which is to be located at the west entrance to the garden.
Buro Happold associate and project leader, Ian Hargreaves, said: “We’re really pleased that this project is now on site. Our long and successful relationship with Edward Cullinan Architects and the rest of the team, has amplified our enjoyment of working on such a great project.
“The rest of the funding for the project was received from the Scottish Executive just weeks ago, marking the successful completion of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s fundraising campaign and the beginning of the next stage to build The Gateway.”
Buro Happold associate director Richard Harris’ structural group in Bath developed the design of the centre to RIBA Stage E before it was handed to the structures team in Edinburgh. The practice’s Edinburgh office opened in May 2006.
Sustainability and biodiversity, two major considerations for the entire project, have influenced the design and construction of the building. With this in mind, Buro Happold and Edward Cullinan Architects have designed a timber and steel structure.
Softwood timber will support the roof and first floor, with cross-laminated timber panels spanning over glue-laminated beams. The beams will spring from steel columns, fabricated from rolled steel angles. Pad foundations will support the columns, and concrete walls around the stairs stabilise the frame. A helical feature stair, also constructed from engineered timber, will provide a centre piece to the main hall.
Heating will be provided from a biomass boiler, partly fuelled by plant waste from the gardens. Some of the electrical power is generated by a roof mounted helical wind turbine.
Edward Cullinan Architects project architect Alex Abbey, said: “We wanted the building to use the latest in timber engineering technology. Using a natural material reinforces the message of sustainability and was entirely appropriate for a project in the Botanic Garden. All structural timber is exposed with joints between columns, beams and soffit clearly expressed.
“Working with Buro Happold, we sought to create a roof that floats over the entire building as a single horizontal plane, creating a deep overhanging canopy that shelters the entrances and exits as well as the café terrace. We arrived at an elegant solution using a diagonal timber roof structure on slender steel columns, which creates a series of coffered bays that define each space within the open plan area below.”
Due to open in early 2009, The Gateway will provide a number of facilities, including permanent and temporary exhibition spaces, a real life science lab, a biodiversity garden, a shop, an outdoor sales area covered by a fabric canopy, a café and restaurant, and other supporting facilities.
Buro Happold has provided a number of services for the project, including structural engineering, façade engineering, fire engineering design and risk assessment (FEDRA), inclusive design consultancy and construction design management.
Buro Happold has a long and successful relationship with Edward Cullinan Architects, and this is the second time the practices, together with engineers Max Fordham, have teamed up for a project of this kind. In 2001, the same team was appointed to design the new education and interpretation centre for Cambridge University’s Botanic Garden.
Ends
Project team:
Client: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Architect: Edward Cullinan Architects
Landscape Architect: Gross Max
Interpretation: Navy Blue
Quantity Surveyor: Davis Langdon
Project Manager: EC Harris
Building Services: Max Fordham
Buro Happold services: Structural engineering, infrastructure and environment, fire engineering, inclusive design consultancy, construction design management, façade engineering and tension structures engineering
Contractor: Xircon
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Buro Happold is a multi-disciplinary international practice of consulting engineers established in 1976 offering civil and structural engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, quantity surveying, building services and environmental engineering, health and safety management, infrastructure and traffic engineering, ground engineering, façade engineering, fire engineering, computational fluid dynamics analysis, inclusive design consultancy, project management, urban design and a range of specialist CAD services.
