The Skylight, situated at the top of a funnel-shaped light well, is a 16-sided glass cylinder 1.3m high and about 11m in diameter with a load-bearing framework of rectangular hollow sections. The cladding to the Skylight is made from 2-ply laminated safety glass and includes approved windows that function as smoke and heat vents.
The three entrance areas in seele’s contract include six automatic sliding doors, shop display windows and criss-crossing bent steel fin tracery that have both structural and decorative purposes. Connections to the building are by means of stainless steel glazing bars.
The free-form 3D-roof made of folded steel sheets stretches between both ends of the C-shaped free-form glass roof and connects with the funnel-shaped lightwell to the skylight. The roof is illuminated with LED-panels thus the closed arcade area is adapted to the daylight at the glass roof area.
The main attraction of Victoria Gate is the arcade roof which continues the tradition of adjacent Victorian arcade glazed roofs. The new roof begins as a flat plane and gradually rises to form a three-bay pitched roof joining up with the neighbouring John Lewis flagship store. The architect’s ideas for the roof have been turned into reality by seele’s dynamically shaped, three-dimensional roof design based on a tubular steel structure with laminated safety glass. The special roof geometry leads to twisted individual glass infill panels and complicated cutting of the sections, which were optimised throughout the 3D design stage to create a homogeneous, consistent appearance. Custom, triangular roof windows that retreat with the overall impression of the structure guarantee the necessary exchange of air and the vent in case of fire for the shopping arcades below to ensure acceptable temperatures in summer and winter.
