Pilkington is providing light and promoting interaction at the new Materials Innovation Factory at the city-centre campus of the University of Liverpool.
Fairhursts Design Group aimed to get the building to reflect the work happening inside and promote interaction between the various teams working there.
The building is laid out as a series of linked laboratories and workspaces that ensure different teams are not physically separated from one another. This is arranged around a large, open atrium which provides a focal point for colleagues from across the facility to meet and socialise, whilst flooding the office and lab space with daylight.
A wall of Pilkington Planar glazing sits in the four-storey atrium, rising to a height of 18.5 metres and almost seven metres wide.
The glazing was mounted to toughened glass fins and low-profile stainless steel point-fixings were used to strengthen the glazing system.
Phil Savage, commercial contracts manager for Pilkington UK Limited explained: “The entirely frameless wall of structural glass we have supplied represents the cutting edge of architectural glazing technology.”
Due to open later this year, the factory will be occupied by 240 researchers, including 140 university staff, along with a team of Unilever scientists from their global Research and Development Centre for Home Care and Personal Care products.
