A Palace for the People of Peterborough.
Located in my hometown of Peterborough, roughly 100 miles north of London. Peterborough has a population 203,600 people and a diverse community. This project will create a flexible space for the people of Peterborough, a buildings that can be adapted to different functions, activities and sports. Many of the civic buildings of Peterborough feature arches, from the west façade of the cathedral to the shopping centre car park and this was a theme I wanted to explore within my design. The building is located within the central ward of the city, close to the town amenities and other civic buildings such as the cathedral, public swimming pool and court houses. The structure consists of a monolithic exoskeleton of solid limestone and single span steel trusses. The stone façade is made up of a series of components similar to the works of Gilles Perraudin, the concept of components allows for a more economical approach towards the construction. Large steel open-web trusses span 41 meters across the shortest axis of the structure (east to west). These large span trusses support large open floor plates uninterrupted by any columns, this was an idea influenced by the Centre Pompidou designed by Richard Rodgers and Renzo Piano. These column free spaces enable the building to accommodate many different uses from lectures to an emergency health centre to badminton courts. A curtain wall glazing system creates the thermal envelope of the building and then internally structural insulation panels create spaces with a warmer environment and an element of privacy. Circulation and service cores are located within an open loggia where spiral staircases made of steel wrap around large cylindrical cores which house the bathrooms (south) and lift shafts and services (north). In between the cores the generous loggia is a public space where people can meet. The roof top is completely exposed which could be used for a variety of sports and events.
