Friday 25 March 2011

Deptford Lounge gets its kit on

Cladding has started to appear around the north west corner of the new Tidemill School/Deptford Lounge building on Giffin Street. Yes it's gold, as was shown in the original renderings, but apart from that it's not quite the type of cladding I had envisaged.


I seem to remember commenting at the time that it was difficult to imagine what type and quality of cladding was proposed from the pictures, although presumably this sort of thing was specified in great technical detail in the contract documents.


It seems to be perforated metal cladding of some type; I'll be interested to see how that's going to combine with the frame and rather rough finish behind it, but presumably these designers know what they are doing! On the other hand its partial transparency could offer a fascinating veiled glimpse of the structural form of the building....oops, anyone would think I'm applying for a job on the Architect's Journal!

What do the rest of you think? *lights blue touch paper and stands back*

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

It looked good as it shone in the sun yesterday. I'm confident it'll be a good asset architecturally to the town.

Brockley Nick said...

Mind if I reproduce one of your photos (properly credited) on Brockley Central, to link to this story please?

Deptford Dame said...

No probs Nick; for non-commercial use there's no need to ask, but thanks for asking anyway!

keith said...

its not quite as was portrayed on the planning drawings!!!!!!! maybe another example of what happened with the Princess Louise building on Hales St - great drawings, poor delivery.

O'Quo-Charlz said...

Seems it has been nominated for the World Architecture News (WAN AWARDS) 2011 - in the Education category.

See link http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=15896

O'Quo-Charlz said...

Seems the building is up for an award - See link - http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=15896

Deptford Dame said...

@O'quo-Charlz thanks for the tip-off; it does seem awfully premature when the building's nowhere near finished. How are they going to judge it, I wonder? From the renderings?!

Anonymous said...

How can they give it an award when its not finished???

The final result is very important as it can look different to the plans.

Bobsleigh said...

dont get what u mean - "not like the original drawings?" the reality is better than the drawings which look yellow and flat- bling is back!

keith said...

bobsleigh
plenty of 'bling' was promised (take a closer look at the original drawings - the south facade). The question is whether the original architectural intent has been delivered. What happened in translation? We seem to have ended up with a randomised series of oversized gold coloured brick-format units rather than huge sheets of gold with suppressed joints as depicted.
Maybe by 'yellow and flat' you are referring to the elevational treatment of the north side of the development which aint all that.
Either way, the planners role ought to be to ensure the highest possible standard of delivery and not to accept second best.