Location: Northern Quarter, Manchester
Client: Urban Splash
Completed: 2004
Situated in the heart of the Northern Quarter of Manchester, Smithfield Buildings is an award winning mixed use development of apartments, retail units and leisure use.
The project is situated in a group of seven different buildings originally home to the Affleck and Brown Department store which closed in the 1970’s. Within the building, two atria divided by the internal structure of the building are the focal spaces around which the majority of apartments are accessed. The microclimatic conditions; unheated, top lit spaces with good natural ventilation allowed for the successful introduction of plant material. The materials used are limestone slabs, panels of washed limestone gravel and river cobbles, in combination with custom built pitch pine planters with bamboos and climbers.
The design takes advantage of the height of the atrium space enabling residents on all floors to have both physical and visual contact with the planting. The strong geometric grid of the internal architecture is reflected in the layering of the panels of paving, the strong lines of the planters and the supports for the foliage.
The Smithfield Buildings development won a special award in the Civic Trust Awards 2000.