August 2 2024

Updated proposals for 28 homes in Glasgow's Gorbals district have been submitted which do away with brick pier balconies in favour of open perforated metalwork.

Reiach & Hall have responded to concerns raised by planners that their initial design was 'too heavy and too clumsy', prompting the shift to cantilevered alternatives screened on two sides by metal cladding.

Detailing their proposed changes the architects wrote: "The balustrades are wrapped on two sides in powder-coated perforated metal cladding. The corrugation is angular, creating a prismatic aesthetic which chimes, at a detail level, with the roof pitch, at a massing level. The wrapping has several benefits. It creates a more private and sheltered space, cutting down wind and filtering views. The wrapping also screens the air source heat pump.

"In support of the developed metalwork, we have recessed a brick panel, which helps to position and organize the revised balcony elements, creating a vertical emphasis that ties the balconies together.

"One side of the balcony is left unscreened, with an open vertical balustrade. This design choice adds a dynamic element to the balconies, animating the overall mass while orienting the balconies towards the views."

Further changes include a switch from buff to white brickwork and the replacement of 'too rural' timber cladding with zinc on the rear elevation - amidst fears the former would be neither robust nor durable enough to cope with Glasgow's dank climate. 

3 Comments

#1 Posted by Roddy_ on 2 Aug 2024 at 15:02 PM

One of the few projects that I can think of where the intervention of the Planning Dept. has actually improved the design.
The 3 storey block doesn't really turn that corner particularly well though, does it?

#2 Posted by Riddy on 2 Aug 2024 at 17:15 PM

Duller than a wet weekend in Skegness

#3 Posted by Tammy Scoosh on 5 Aug 2024 at 14:26 PM

That is a blatant Page&Park rip off lol. I thought R&H were an award winning design practice?

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