MAKE Architectural Design Report Rev 02: January 2007 abridged

The Mailbox has established itself as a vibrant mixeduse development integral to Birmingham’s city centre life. The Cube is the final phase of this scheme, and will reinforce The Mailbox’s position as a key urban destination. The Cube is firmly knitted into its context, and actively draws people through the site to become a new hub for pedestrians. The new building establishes a strong visual presence and is immediately identifiable as a gateway to the canal and city centre.

Architectural Design Report

Rev 02: January 2007

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Key project data Glossary diagram

Washington Wharf

canal

footbridge

The Mailbox

Salvage Wharf bars and restaurants building

piazza level

Building B

Base ‘278’ worksEnhanced ‘278’ works

Civil/structural engineer: Buro Happold

Note: illustrations in this report are indicative only and the

latest design drawings should be referred to for the current

layouts and details

Structure: part concrete frame and part steel frame

Cladding: anodised aluminium panels with opaque and translucent glazed panels Plant building brick clad

King and Queens Court

Brough PassageLink to The Mailbox

02 Site and context

Site location Character of surrounding area Building on the success of The Mailbox Surrounding buildings

Residential levels Hotel levels

Sky bar and restaurant Roof

Designing out bird nuisance Sustainability

Wind condition studies Access for all

07 Works beyond the site boundary

‘278’ works Refurbishment of footbridge Covered link to The Mailbox

08 Illustrations

01 Introduction

Photo by Zander Olsen

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The lower levels are dedicated to retail with cafe-bars and restaurants animating the canalside Offices, residential apartments and a hotel occupy the levels above and a skyline restaurant is located at the top offering panoramic views over the canal and city

The Cube’s façade is as visually exciting as its form A modular system creates an anodised aluminium clad exterior fretwork screen while the interior spaces are lined with glass Together, the intricate exterior tessellations and the courtyard’s glowing reflections evoke Birmingham’s strong manufacturing and engineering tradition, as well as its jewellery and watchmaking heritage

With its cutting edge design, rich mix of uses and creation

of a convergence point, the new building is pivotal to

Birmingham’s continued revitalisation The Cube’s powerful geometric form and shimmering texture will complement The Mailbox building and introduce a distinctive new presence to the city skyline

and a new front door

to the city centre

At ground level, the ‘cube’ hovers over a glass plinth One glazed retail storey at Commercial Street opens through to two floors of cafe-bars looking out over the canalside, exploiting the natural fall of the site

A diagonal pedestrian route cuts through the retail levels, linking the street to the towpath, the footbridge, and The Mailbox piazza

The four-storeys of shops, bars and cafes, and the entrances to the offices, apartments and hotel are all accessed from the central open courtyard Twisting up over seventeen floors, the prismatic geometry and reflections of the courtyard will create a dynamic shared space, linking all the uses in the building

At the residential floors, the courtyard opens

up on the canal-side, forming large terraces

An open fretwork screen completes the geometry of the ‘cube’ while allowing light, air and view to the apartments

In contrast to the jewel-like interior, the solid metallic exterior of the cube creates a strong landmark form in the cityscape

The twostorey glazed rooftop structure housing hotel rooms, restaurant and bar - is a continuation of the twisting courtyard facades, acting as a dramatic beacon on the night

-skyline

02 Site and context

Site location

The site lies to the south-west of the city centre, between

Commercial Street and the canal, between The Mailbox and

Washington Wharf

The site is 10 minutes walk from New Street station, through

The Mailbox It lies adjacent to the canal with a footbridge link

to the towpath on the other side, leading north to the Gas

Street basin, Brindleyplace and the ICC The new registry office

development lies across the footbridge behind the Holliday

Wharf development

Commercial Street is a relatively calm street A large six-storey

residential development has recently been completed on the

south side of the street Neighbouring Washington Wharf is a

relatively new residential courtyard scheme

The St Thomas’ Church Peace Gardens lie a minute’s walk to the

south, towards Bath Row and the Attwood Green area beyond

Commercial Street slopes down towards the city centre and

Brough Passage, to the east of the site, slopes down further to

the canalside The maximum change in level across the site is

indicative site levels

Brough Passage

illustration from BCC ‘Bath Row and Holloway Head Development Framework’, August 2004

site

footbridge

piazza

leveltowpath level

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Building on the success of The Mailbox

a strong destination with a clear identity within one mixed use building

changing character of Commercial Street,

Bath Row and Attwood Green

higher density development in the

expanding city

centre

a site with a national profile from the BBC studios

Surrounding buildings

blank wall

windows

obscure windo

ws and

final exit

bridge deckSix-storey development, incl refurbishment of

historic wharf building Apartments above,

with bars and restaurants at towpath level

New registry office behind

Holliday Wharf

Washington Wharf

Four-storey residential development

completed in 1999/2000 Canalside block has

side windows looking out over the edge of the

site Other walls on site boundary are blank

Washington

Court

Two- and three- storey residential building

The new-build portion of The Mailbox development,

completed in 2000 The five storey building houses three floors of commercial units (mainly A3) and two storeys of hotel

The wall facing the site includes some windows to the stair core and, at the lower levels, mainly obscure windows to A3 units

A final exit route from this building over the site needs to

be maintained at all times

Three storey residential buildings built in the 1980s

This portion of the canal side

is private, with a communal garden for the residents

looking back towards The Mailbox

small staircase windows, final exit and dry riser inlet facing onto the site

03 Building form

Strategic design moves

The Cube is firmly knitted into its site and actively draws people through the site, to become a new hub for pedestrians The diagonal pedestrian route through the central courtyard encourages movement between the street and footbridge level and the towpath, a storey below

A full stop

to The Mailbox

and a new front door

to the city centre

A fretwork screen ‘completes’ the cube form

The glazed rooftop structure contrasts strongly with the ‘cube’ element below and makes a visual link with the faceted retail

glazing at the base

This two-storey steel rooftop structure houses a sky bar and restaurant at the upper level, providing panoramic views of the city and acting as a beacon on the skyline

View of the screen from the courtyard

The terracing form on the canal-side

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Mix of uses

25: sky bar and restaurant

24: hotel23: hotel and residential

15 to 22: residential

9 to 14: office(note: no level 13)Building B (plant building)

5 to 8: retail and cafe-bars

2 to 4: car parking

Fretwork screen

bars andrestaurantsbuilding

The Cube

Entrances and routes

Level 6

towpath entrance

Salvage Wharf bars and restaurants

west resi entrance

office entrance

access to parking

gated route to towpath for

5 to 8)

Brough Passage ramped

‘piazza’ level of The Mailbox towpath at level below

stair up to terrace at level above

Loading bay

car ramp

to parking garages

bridge link over

lobby for hotel, sky bar and east residential terraces for cafe-bars (level above towpath)

taxi drop-off shared surface for

pedestrian priority

Brough Passage sloping

down

to towpathCommercial Street

Towpath level (level 6) is 4.5m below the level of Commercial

Street, the footbridge and the ‘piazza level’ of The Mailbox

(level 7) Pedestrians entering from Commercial Street can walk

through the heart of the open courtyard, taking the escalators

or lift down to the lower levels

The shared lobby for the hotel, sky bar, restaurant and east residential apartments has an entrance at the taxi-drop on Commercial Street as well as an entrance onto the central courtyard

The office and west residential entrances are located at towpath level

Access to parking garages and the loading bay are located at the west of the site The loading bay is at street level while a car ramp gives access to the parking garages located beneath the loading bay

service vehicles cars

in cars out

pedestrian and fire access only fire fighting

access to ramp

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Automated parking system

levels 4 3 2

Lifts with garage above

Car turned on turntable in lift

Double bank of cars - always

one empty space to move

front car into

Shuttle running in aisle

Lifts with garage above

Shuttle running in aisle

Typical system layout

Example of pallet-less system

Parking will be offered to residents and office workers, while visitors will use the

existing Mailbox car park Due to the constrained site and level change across

the site, traditional basement parking would be very inefficient

An automated parking system removes the need for anyone to enter the car park

and cars can be stacked more densely A driver simply drops off their car in one

of the garages at level 6 A lift carries the car from the garage down to an aisle,

where a shuttles transports the car to an empty space

To retrieve a car, the driver will call the car with a swipe card or fob and the car

will then be delivered to a specified garage

For more detail, see specialist

contractor information

street

ramp

liftlift

level 4level 3level 2

level 6level 7

Fire fighting cores to all levels

aisle 1

aisle 2

ramp

Retail, cafe-bar levels

levels 8 7 6 5

Level 6 plan of The Cube, Salvage Wharf and The Mailbox

(blue A3, purple A1)

Level 7 (street and bridge level)

Retail, cafe-barsHotel and sky bar entranceEast residential lobby

Level 8 (first level of the cube)Retail, cafe-bars

The four levels of A1/A3 use extend from one level below towpath (5) to one level

above street level (8) The central courtyard extends throughout, so rain can fall

right down to its base at level 5 Local canopies and the natural overlapping of

the walkways provide shelter for pedestrians

The different levels are connected by twisting escalators - spiralling around the

courtyard - as well as by a passenger lift (serving only levels 5 -8) The retail

levels are animated by particular uses and entrances, as shown below A spa at

level 5 can also be accessible from the hotel discretely by the main hotel lifts

Maximum populationFrom the loading bay at street level, goods will be transported

across the covered bridge-link from Building B into The Cube

Goods will then be transported by goods lift G7 or G9

Either units are served directly by these lifts, or goods are taken down to level 5 where they can be moved to the other two goods lifts, to serve the remaining units Goods lifts G6 and G7 serve all levels of The Cube Goods lifts G8 and G9 serve only retail floors 5, 6, 7 and 8 All service corridors are a minimum of 2m wide and maximum 3m wide

A3 units are primarily located on the canal-side, with outdoor seating on the towpath, on canal-facing terraces and around the internal courtyard Units intake fresh air locally from the

central courtyard or from outside Extract is ducted from each unit and exhausted communally on the north east and south-west elevations at level 8

Canopies at level 9 over escalators provide shelter

Artwork at level 5

Each retail unit will have a maximum occupancy depending on use, size and location Escape into the open courtyard is an acceptable escape route but use of the escalators is not Levels

6 and 7 will therefore accommodate greater populations that 5 and 8

Public WCsThe following are provided at level 5:

Female: 4no cubicles, incl 1 accessible for ambulant disabledMale: 2no cubicles, 3no urinals

1no unisex disabled WC1no Family room/baby change

Flexibility

It is desirable that level 8 could be used for office

or A1/A3 accommodation The 4m floor-to-floor height allows for this, with a 150mm raised floor zone and lift and escalator access for both uses Levels 5 to 8 will be constructed as shell space

Height4.5m floor to floor levels 5, 6, 7 and 4m floor to floor level 8

artwork

at base of courtyard

Floor loadingFloor loading for retail units is 5kN/sq.m

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11 10 9

Tenant 1

Tenant 2

The five levels of office accommodation (9, 10, 11, 12, 14)

surround the central courtyard The ‘twist’ of the courtyard is

created by the edges of the floor plates around the courtyard,

which alternate every two floors

The fretwork screen extends down to level 12 so the glazing line

on the north west corner is adjusted on levels 12 and 14 to

accommodate the depth of the screen

The office levels will be fitted out to Cat A standard and this is

described in more detail in section 05 ‘Internal planning’

The floor plates can be subdivided into multiple tenancies The

diagram on the facing page shows a two-tenant split

Subdivision into smaller areas would require a longer length of

shared corridor Four on-floor plant rooms each serve a

quadrant of the office floor plate, allowing great flexibility of

occupation

Each floor plate is served by two fire-fighting cores The stair width and storey exit width is 1350mm Faber Maunsell’s Fire Safety Strategy sets the maximum population per office floor

Each floorplate provides:

2no disabled WCs (to be within acceptable travel distances) 8no unisex cubicles (half in each core)

BS 6465 Part 1 = 10no WCs is sufficient for 225 people

In order to achieve an occupancy density higher than 1 per

part of a tenant’s Cat B fit out Showers could also form part of the tenant Cat B fit-out The drainage design allows for this possible future increase

The offices are served by four lifts, accessed from the lobby

at towpath level 6 The parking garages are accessible from

the towpath lobby

Each floor plate is served by two goods lifts, which also

serve the rest of The Cube G7 is directly accessible from

the loading bay while G6 is accessible from the level 5

service corridor or, on infrequent occasions, from Brough

Passage

Lifts and servicing

Plant Plant

Plant

Plant

Lift lobby

LoadingFloor loading is 4kN/sq.m incl partitions

Residential levels

levels 23 to 15

Doors open in event

of fire only

arrows show escape routes

The residential floors are divided into east and west halves,

each served by two lifts The west side is designated as

‘investor’ (predominantly rental property) and this is accessed

via a lobby at level 6 The east side, ‘owner-occupier’, is

accessed from the shared hotel/sky bar lobby at level 7

The building form terraces back on each floor There are large

areas of external terrace at level 15 and then small terraces on

the north-west side as the form terraces back The twisting

courtyard form creates small balconies and ledges There are

no in-board balconies

The top level, 23, is residential on the west side (investor) but

hotel rooms on the eastern side

Each floor plate is served by the two fire-fighting cores (storey exit width 1350mm) and one dedicated escape stair (storey exit width min 850mm) The western dead-end is code-compliant,

at approx 7.5m from the stair door to the furthest front door

The dead end on the eastern side is double the code-compliant travel distance, divided into two lengths of 7.5m with the furthest section vented into an AOV shaft

Many of the apartments have an internal travel distance of less than 9m, not requiring a protected internal corridor Where 9m

is exceeded, internal corridors protected by hold-open fire doors are provided

Fire safety

HeightThe floor-to-floor height of 3m provides a floor-to-ceiling height of 2.5m, with an overall floor build up of 120mm and overall ceiling zone of 130mm

Lifts and servicing

Two passenger lifts serve each half of each floor One goods lift

serves each half

Each half-floor contains one refuse store, which provides space

for general waste and recycling Waste management is

discussed further in section 06 ‘Logistics’

Apartments are heated by wet underfloor heating Corridors,

lift lobbies and stair cores are not heated

A ‘transfer zone’, nominally 750mm, between the lowest

residential floor (15) and the upper office floor (14) will be used

to transfer the soil stacks back to the main cores

EastWest

The terracing form behind the fretwork screen

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Hotel levels

levels 24

23 (part)

Indicative layout: construction of shell and core only

Shell and core space

East side:

hotel shell andcore

West side:

residentialfitted out

level 23:

half resihalf hotel

level 24hotel

The hotel lifts are accessed through a lobby at street level 7

while the main hotel reception will be at level 24: the lower level

of the glazed rooftop structure Hotel bedrooms will be

distributed across floors 24 and 23 (top floor of the cube: east

side hotel, west side residential)

The hotel space will be shell and core only and the bedroom

layout shown opposite is illustrative only The soil stacks, which

will be coordinated with the apartments below, will restrict

possible hotel bathroom positions

Due to the terracing of the building form, there are some areas

of external terrace There will be no in-board balconies

Fire safety

Height

Lifts and servicing

Two passenger lifts serve all the hotel floors and the sky bar

and restaurant from the lobby at level 7 These lifts will also

access the spa at level 5

The hotel is served by the two shared goods lifts

Due to the phased evacuation regime, Faber Maunsell’s Fire Strategy

sets a total population for the top three floors together: 23 (hotel and

resi), 24 (hotel) and 25 (sky bar), of 1,305 people with a maximum of

520 on any one floor There will need to be agreement as to how this

maximum population is managed over the different uses

Level 23: 3.5m floor to floor, 2.5m clear (120mm floor zone, 650mm ceiling zone)

Level 24: 3.6m floor to floor, 2.6m clear (120mm floor zone, nom 500mm ceiling)

Loading

Floor loading is 5kN/sq.m incl partitions, bathrooms and plant