WHORL building
Competition entry for a new office building in Preston, United Kingdom

Our proposal for a new office building for the city of Preston is based upon the geometric form of the negative space defined by a torus, or inner tube, form.  This form is restricted in the middle and expansive at the top and bottom edges.  The WHORL consists of a thin ferro-concrete shell sheathed in glass.  The form is inverted so that the larger floors with broader views are also the highest floors in elevation.  This produces a distinctive form that captures the dynamics of the fast moving traffic of the round-a-bout and pulls it into the building.  The four levels of office accommodations begin on the fourth story above grade, just above the required mechanical service levels. The exterior shell structure of WHORL provides for flexible column free interior space.  Parking underneath of WHORL’s plaza is likewise in a spiral vortex, continuing down for three levels.

WHORL has a double-skin surface for the circulation of conditioned and refreshed ventilation in controlled perimeter airspace, thus reducing heating and cooling through the maintenance of this moderate zone.  Likewise the roof has a cooling “nature” pond that absorbs radiant heat in the winter and allows for cooling evaporation in the summer months.

Consciously we have proposed WHORL as an office tower with distinctive form and presence and we have intentionally designed it to be a prominent element of the skyline in the hopes that it will anchor the new developments of industry and commerce in this sector of the new Preston and be visible from Preston City Centre to the south.

WHORL, while being a unique form, is in fact quite a clear and geometrically simple form.  Deriving its shape from such industrial artifacts such as water towers and grain silos, it is envisioned that a construction firm with experience with just such industrial building types will be engaged to create this simple thin shell ferro-concrete structure.  Concrete floor plates will be tied to the core, which will act as over-sized center column, linking it to the perimeter shell, thus creating a stable structure.  Glazing of the exterior will consist of multiple flat sheets of insulated glass, scheduled to repeat in size and shape, thus achieving a certain redundancy in the exterior curtain wall system.