Internally, exposed structural timber panels and frame have a subtle white wash and are set against a robust linoleum floor in a warm-grey chequerboard pattern and, in key spaces, a textured rustic oak. The timber-panelled carcass is punctured through walls and ceiling with large dramatic openings through which light pours. These also frame long views through and out of the building, locating the user within the building and wider landscape.
Externally, where out of reach from non-users, the building is clad in a lightweight, translucent polycarbonate rainscreen with a gently undulating profile. The polycarbonate provides glimpses of foil-faced insulation behind and responds in an extraordinary way to changes in external light conditions – by turn, dazzling or ethereal.
At street level where the building required a more robust finish, ultra-high performance pre-cast concrete panels cast from moulds of the profiled polycarbonate above, are hung from the building. This combination of light refractive and reflective panels form elegant curtain-like elevations that are framed with bright crisp aluminium surrounds. The ductal® concrete, used for the first time at this scale in the UK, is both extremely durable and beautiful – the finest of facets and impressions being evident on its porcelain-like surface.