Architen Landrell were selected by Fletcher Priest Architects to design, manufacture and install a bespoke fabric panel system to line the internal link bridges throughout the seven buildings that comprise Vodafones campus-style World Headquarters in Newbury.

The primary function of the panels was one of aesthetics, cladding the external face of the walkway balustrades and the underside of the walkway ceilings below in one cohesive curved form, but the fabric panels also housed integrated down-lighters and also acted as mesh covers to allow airflow from chilled beams mounted above.

Each of the approximately 1,000 panels was fixed using an ingenious hidden cam fixing on shared drop-rods, so that the corners of four adjacent panels were suspended from the same hanger, ensuring a controlled grid layout with the required consistent shadow gaps between panels.

This bespoke system, entirely designed in-house, also enables individual panels to be quickly and easily removed and reinstated for maintenance access to the lights and chilled beams behind. The exposed ends of blocks of panels were closed off with a painted MDF bulkhead shaped that followed the curved form of the ceiling.

A 10% open PVC/glass mesh was used for the majority of the panels, but directly underneath the chilled beams (and at the very top level beneath the plant rooms) a more open 50% PVC/glass mesh was used to maximise airflow. The frames were constructed of light weight powder coated aluminium extrusion.

Project Architect Simon Marr of Fletcher Priest explained their reasons for choosing a fabric lining system:

We wanted dynamic curving ceiling profiles for the bridge ceilings to set them apart from the rest of the office space. We also wanted the link-bridge balustrades to seem lighter and more translucent than normal to emphasise the atrium space.

Although we also considered slatted timber and stainless steel mesh, fabric proved the most cost effective, with the advantage of interesting variations of transparency depending on where you are standing. Practical benefits included varying degrees of openness in the fabric weave to accommodate chilled air circulation.