BDP Offices, Manchester

Building Design Partnership based in Manchester had moved into their offices around 18 months before and had quickly realised that the five ETFE cushion rooflights on the top floor of the building were letting in too much light in the summer months and creating an unpleasant working environment below.

As BDP had worked with Architen Landrell on numerous projects before and we share a good working relationship, we were approached with a view to working alongside them to come up with a stylish, economic and practical way of solving the light problem.

The solution lay in the use of a PVC glass mesh (E-Screen) which would still let light transmit to the space below but would diffuse and soften it along the way. Architen Landrell set about the design, manufacture and installation of five steel rings with clamped fabric to be suspended below the rooflights. The fabric was fixed to the steel ring beams with a clamping system to ensure a clean edge and a quick installation period – the clamping system was designed in house specifically to meet the needs of this particular application and has proved thoroughly successful.

As the practicality of maintaining the services which lay behind these E-Screen panels was important, the screens were designed to be quickly and easily demounted.