52-56 Alderley Road is a prominent commercial building in the centre of Wilmslow. With its strong modernist and geometrical form, expressed by the white tiled frame that splits the building down into bays of tinted glazing, it is a distinctive landmark within the town.
Reid Architects was commissioned to undertake a review of the existing building and present the client with a high quality, contemporary solution to enhance the building’s identity and provide an extension to the second floor office accommodation.
A new zinc clad canopy and entrance feature now firmly establishes the identity and location of the building on Alderley Road; providing a visual focus for the building’s main entrance and coherence to the shop frontages at ground level. Rationalised external landscaping also provides greater permeability between the street and the retail units and creates level access into the building.
The dominant existing white tiled frame is covered in white render with limestone to the base. The zinc cladding is then layered within the existing structural bays and ensures that the frame retains its strength as the central component in the building’s architectural expression. The existing glazing has been resprayed and repaired and the existing projecting bay windows that address Alderley Road have been replaced with new aluminium cladding and curtain wall glazing.
A new second floor extension clad in curtain wall glazing and zinc creates additional office space and appears to sit lightly on the existing fabric. The recessed zinc base of the curtain walling separates the old and new elements and enables the new intervention to appear sensitive to the original architectural language. The existing frame is also expressed within the new curtain wall glazing which has frosted spandrel panels that line through with the frame and tie the existing and new works into a coherent whole.
Reid Architects was commissioned to undertake a review of the existing building and present the client with a high quality, contemporary solution to enhance the building’s identity and provide an extension to the second floor office accommodation.
A new zinc clad canopy and entrance feature now firmly establishes the identity and location of the building on Alderley Road; providing a visual focus for the building’s main entrance and coherence to the shop frontages at ground level. Rationalised external landscaping also provides greater permeability between the street and the retail units and creates level access into the building.
The dominant existing white tiled frame is covered in white render with limestone to the base. The zinc cladding is then layered within the existing structural bays and ensures that the frame retains its strength as the central component in the building’s architectural expression. The existing glazing has been resprayed and repaired and the existing projecting bay windows that address Alderley Road have been replaced with new aluminium cladding and curtain wall glazing.
A new second floor extension clad in curtain wall glazing and zinc creates additional office space and appears to sit lightly on the existing fabric. The recessed zinc base of the curtain walling separates the old and new elements and enables the new intervention to appear sensitive to the original architectural language. The existing frame is also expressed within the new curtain wall glazing which has frosted spandrel panels that line through with the frame and tie the existing and new works into a coherent whole.
