The design concept is looking at contextualising Zaha Hadid office in its surroundings and, as a building which is located in a conservation area, the extension proposal is to relate to the existing mansard roofscape.
The late Nineteenth Century Queen Anne Style is characterised by the overlapping of tectonic forms. This creates a rich assemblage giving strong contrasts between major and minor elements and between built space and void space.
The roofscape of this architecture is notable for having varied roof peaks and troughs. The extensions reference this character with a contemporary rendition of the dynamic roof forms in the form of glass and lightweight additions.
Three new, lightweight and elegant additions are proposed to the rear and sides, into the courtyard of the building.
The existing triangulated mansard roofs led to an exploration of the origami concept in form of triangular planar surfaces as a modern interpretation of roofscape, trying to investigate different materials, various configurations and multiple organisations.
From the origami triangulated faceted surfaces emerged the anticlastic surfaces, which allow the study of tensile structure, best expressing the idea of a light pavilion structure. Anticlastic means having opposite curvatures, that is, curved longitudinally in one direction and transversely in the opposite direction, as the surface of a saddle. The aim was to develop and utilize high performance tensile membrane envelope system that provides for various requirements both in form of building performance and aesthetics.
