Optimised façade

Providing maximum use of daylight whilst limiting solar gain

Ben Pimlott Building

Ben Pimlott Building, Goldsmiths College, London 

Goldsmiths College, often dubbed the home of ‘Brit Art’, required a building that reflected the status of its School of Fine Art and Centre for Cognition, Computation and Culture.

The client brief was for a visually stunning, low energy building that minimised environmental impact and energy input, coupled with potentially conflicting requirements of large areas of glazing. 

The requirement to use ordinary glass meant that a solution had to be found to offset light against heat gain. Grontmij solved this through optimising the glazing  and ventilation around the façades to provide maximum use of daylight within the studio whilst limiting solar gain to the other facades.