Finnforest Merk has supplied a glulam gridshell solution for the redevelopment of the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry.
The scheme, deivsed by architects Pringle Richards Sharratt, consists of two new galleries, a state of the art history centre, an underground city archive and a 50m long public covered arcade. Pringle Richards Sharratt was challenged with engaging the existing gallery with the public spaces around it, including the ruins of the old Cathedral and imposing new Cathedral, which sit opposite the site.
The solution is a partially glazed gridshell arcade formed of glulam. The gridshell is designed to reflect its Coventry city centre context as a civic space, by resembling the interior of the City’s cathedral roof and extending the presence of the gallery towards this famous landmark.
“The concept for the arcade was to turn the rear of the building into the front. At the same time we needed to establish a pedestrian route connecting the arcade with the exisiting entrance to the building,” explained John Pringle, principal at Pringle Richards Sharratt.
Meanwhile the 342m2 History Centre within the redevelopment of the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum has been topped by a curving glulam beam and solid timber panel structure, which is supported with spruce columns. The mono pitch roof curves upwards to meet the edge of the arcade, transforming into the diagonal gridshell.
Glulam from Finnforest was used to create both the gridshell structure and vaulted roof. It was selected for its strength and lightweight properties. Glulam is especially suited for use in the load bearing structures of buildings where architectural beauty is being sought in structurally challenging designs. Meanwhile the aesthetic qualities of the timber mean that exposed beams and the structural system become a point of architectural interest in their own right.
Keywords: Glulam Finnforest Merk
