10 New Burlington Street, London, is a mixed office/retail development of c.40000 square feet of retail space and 95000 square feet Grade A office accomodation. Developed to a BREEAM Excellent rating, the development won the 2015 RIBA London Award for sustainability. Within the Regent Street Conservation Area, architects AHMM have effectively reinvented an urban block with a triple glazed building that complements adjacent existing historic facades.
With the entrance a key feature of the development, Open Entrances was selected for its design. It not only had to reflect the overall architectural concept for the building, but also had to consider legislative and environmental requirements. AHMM recognised the expertise and experience of Open Entrances and their ability to design highly innovative aesthetic entrance solutions not restricted by standard limitations in height and scale.
Open Entrances has created a dramatic entrance, central to which is an oversized Revolving Door 4.5 metres high, completely minimalist in appearance but with a grandeur in tune with the building as a whole. The clean lines and simplicity of the entrance are confirmed by the two automatic frameless glass Swing Doors and the specification of integrated floor sensors to ensure there is no unneccesary visual distraction to the minimalism of the design. It consists of four rigid glass leaves with 6 mm and 6 mm low iron laminated safety glass. The door leaves are framed in thermally broken minimal profiles complete with a natural horsehair brush strip. The drum walls are 12 mm low iron laminated safety glass.
The Swing Doors act as pass-doors and have the practical purpose of allowing access to the building by wheelchair, thereby helping to ensure compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act and its requirement for equal access for everyone.
The 4600 mm high Swing Doors are integrated into a 1500 mm curtain wall module.Swing Doors features also include a concealed underfloor automatic swing operator commensurate with weight of the door leaf; activation with push pad and movement sensor for safety; sealed stand-alone double-glazing unit with hermetic seal and frame material sandwiched between two outer sheets of glass; heavy duty spindle and bottom strap to suit door weight; bespoke threshold plates; connection to access control and BMS to open in event of fire.
To ensure that the entrance was fit for purpose and able to withstand the impact of forces generated by internal building pressures and the outside elements, all the doors are extremely heavy and operated automatically by purpose designed heavy duty swing operators.
Open Entrances' has once again demonstrated its ability to realize the vision of the architect, whilst ensuring that practical considerations and legislatory requirements were successfully incorporated into the solution.
