Museum piece?

 

Two Schueco SU 90 unitised facade systems form an important structural element in Glasgow's new £74 million Riverside Museum of Transport, a stunning building designed by the much-admired international practice of Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA).

Conceived as a sectional extrusion open at both ends along a diverted linear path, the snaking zinc-clad building with a rippling zig-zag roof has a huge central display area of around 5,000m2 that is completely open and unsupported by columns. Both front and rear elevations have huge glazed facades with a large feature overhang to protect the interior from excessive solar gain.

ZHA decided to use Schueco's SU 90 unitised system to construct these facades because the irregular shape of the building meant that the chosen system had to combine a high unit stability with the ability to accommodate building movement with a sway of plus or minus 300mm. This meant very tight tolerances, hence the need for a factory-built unitised system able to use the benefits of prefabrication to guarantee the very high quality required.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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