The Cube, Birmingham - Odd-Shaped Buildings on Waymarking.com

The Cube is a 25 storey mixed-use development in the centre of Birmingham, England. Designed by Ken Shuttleworth of MAKE Architects, it contains 135 flats, 111,500 square feet (10,359 m2) of offices, shops, a hotel and a 'skyline' restaurant. It is the final phase of The Mailbox development.

The site is enclosed by The Mailbox complex, Commercial Street, Washington Wharf apartment complex and the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.

Architecture

The cubic dimensions of the main design element lends to the name of the development. However, the building consists of three stages with the cube being one of them. The building is constructed of concrete, with two fire-fighting cores rising up either side of the building.

Birmingham-born Ken Shuttleworth, who designed London's Gherkin building with Norman Foster, has stated that the design evokes the city's industrial heritage.

The cladding for me tries to reflect the heavy industries of Birmingham which I remember as a kid, the metal plate works and the car plants - and the inside is very crystalline, all glass; that to me is like the jewellery side of Birmingham, the lightbulbs and delicate stuff - it tries to reflect the essence of Birmingham in the building itself.

Base

At ground level there is a fully glazed base that is two storeys tall at the canal elevation and one storey in height at the Commercial Street elevation, to the gradients across the site. The base houses two out of the four retail levels, with the ground floor also accommodating public toilets and a Health Club and Spa operated by Hotel Indigo above, which will be discretely accessed by the main hotel lifts.

The floor below the canal towpath level is a courtyard area with a £250,000 public art piece created by Wolverhampton-born graffiti artist Temper. Rising up through the building from the courtyard is a six-sided, twisting atrium that allows rain to fall into the courtyard area with shelter being provided by walkways on the upper levels and canopies. Access to the floors above is provided by escalators.

Cube

Sitting on top of the base, is a perfect cube element measuring 53.1 m (174 ft) in height, width and breadth. The cube consists of 16 floors, with retail distributed on the lower two storeys, office space on the above five floors, residential apartments on the above nine levels, with the top floor of the cube being shared with Hotel Indigo. The Cube residential apartments are separated into East and West Wing. East Wing is strictly limited to owner occupiers, according to contract it is not allowed to let. West Wing is buy-to-let, owner may occupy the flats or let to tenants. East and West Wings have connections on each floor inside the building, but locked fire doors prevent access to different wings. The floor to floor height of the retail floors is 4.5 metres (15 ft), whilst this is reduced to 3.75 metres (12 ft) on the office floors and further reduced to 3 metres (10 ft) on the residential and hotel floors.

The exterior of the cube is clad in glazed and gold colour anodised aluminium panels with structural silicone bonding to the mullions. There are a total of over 2,100 panels used, with the aluminium panels projecting 300 millimetres (12 in) from the glazing. The cladding units were manufactured in lengths of 3 m (10 ft) and 3.75 m (12 ft), depending on the floor to floor heights. Each panel was designed on a 750 mm (2 ft) geometric module, maintaining the illusion that each floor was of an equal height. Insulation was added behind the metal boxes in the cladding units.

The atrium rising through the cube meant that cladding is needed on the interior. This will be composed of polyester powder coated aluminium mullions and transoms incorporating double glazed units, as well as polyester powder coated aluminium panels with an outer glazed panel and a ceramic frit application, which will create a consistent glossy appearance throughout the atrium. These are bonded with structural silicone. At the point where residential levels start, the atrium expands out and creates an opening in the canal elevation of the cube's facade. The opening holds a large fretwork of various shapes of various sizes, constructed out of steel box sections. These are then covered with a cladding system consistent with that used along the exterior. Along the top of the fretwork is a fabricated truss section, composed of four pieces, that provide lateral stability in the fretwork.

Crown

The third element is the two storey crown that sits on top of the cube element. It is two storeys in height and houses facilities for the boutique hotel and a rooftop restaurant with skybar, offering panoramic views of the city centre. Unlike the rest of the Cube, the crown is constructed from a steel frame due to the complexity of the glazing. Four of the corners overhang the edge of the cube element, creating an angular form. The restaurant was designed by Conran & Partners and was to be operated by D&D London, in their first venture outside London, but they later pulled out. The new restaurant called "Steakhouse Bar and Grill" by Marco Pierre White opened in December 2011. It takes up the entire 14,000 sq ft (1,300 m2) top floor of the scheme as part of a £10 million investment by Sanguine Hospitality Limited.


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Building Address: The Cube 196 Wharfside Street Birmingham, West Midlands UK B1 1RN Is it open to the general public?: yes When was it built? (Approximate if you must.): 05/01/2010 What is the name of this building?: The Cube

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