Pilbrow & Partners was established in 2013 and our modelshop has always been a central part of design process for both large-scale commissions, such as our new flagship for M&S on Oxford Street, and smaller scale projects, such as the Gilmour house on the Brighton seafront.
For M&S, the team are exploring how fabric from the existing buildings could be integrated into the new. The steel will be reused to provide column reinforcement and the Portland stone will be recycled into the facades. Revault explores how the concrete superstructure might be reused.
The 1:5 scale model shows a proposal to repurpose existing concrete slabs to form compressive vault structures. The vault is constructed in 8 sections held in compression by a perimeter tension ring that runs around the apex of each 9x9m section. This resists lateral thrust in a fully assembled superstructure and it is fire-protected by the concrete of the adjacent spans.
Our modelmaking team are highly creative and strive to combine both digital and traditional build methods in crafting our models.
