Leicester Square, London

Client: The British Land Company
Status: Design

This design for a 13,935m2 (150,000ft2) mixed-use development, on the Swiss Centre site in Leicester Square, was commissioned by the British Land Co. Ltd. It consists of retail, offices, restaurant and cinema uses. The tapered profile of the building has been carefully developed to maximise the gross floor area whilst maintaining the rights of light and daylight/sunlight requirements of adjacent properties.

The innovative energy saving fa�ade consists of raked glazing modules, with almost a 50/50, solid/glazed ratio and integral solar shades, which neatly avoids the maintenance problems normally associated with external brise-soleil. Research carried out by Avery Associates with Pilkington also showed that by raking the glass to increase its coefficient of heat absorption and its angle relative to the sun, can reduce heat gain by as much as 15-20%. This, together with the photovoltaic arrays on the top-surface (which generate electrical energy) and the reflectivity of the under-surface (which dissipates day-light deep into the interior to save on artificial lighting) results in a truly integrated environmental facade design.

It creates too a facade which responds to the occupants' desire to see down to the activity on the street (not always across to the windows of other buildings), and from the street the buildings' glazing doesn't just reflect the sky but the activities on the street too with an active ever changing kaleidoscope of movement and colour.

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