Site and Form of Building.
The site for this new building was on a site that nobody thought existed. For Historical Reasons the Former Bus Station was located on the wrong side of the road across from the area where the buses loaded. This was part remedied for large numbers of passengers 4 years ago with an outdoor shelter, but the cycle is now complete with this new building located on the same site today.

The area chosen was a triangular area that the buses didn't use the so called "shadow of the swept curve".

This Triangular form abutted a gable end wall to a terrace of commercial units.

The building proposed actively engaged this exciting form and used its location to end the terrace and to turn the corner.

The form of the building could be described as a square donut cut along its diagonal.

Organization.
The ground floor houses all of the public services including parcels, ticket sales, toilets and the inspectors offices.

These are grouped around a double height triangular waiting area.

The circulation space on the ground floor is open plan and so appears to extend the area of the triangular waiting space at ground level. Upstairs however the circulation needed to be within the external walls in order to maintain fire separation between two use categories.

This lead to an interesting effect of having an overhang over the circulation areas below which in a way helped to demarcate these areas.

Design Themes.
The Building is a play on solid and void.

To reflect this the solid part is treated as a monolithic element hewn away at the base to form on overhang at first floor. To further emphasize this the windows area treated as a continuous flush "ribbon window" running internally and externally without any change in the treatment or appearance of the façade.

The void area is treated as one large steel and glass assembly. The glazing is frameless and forms both the elevational glazing and the roof glazing. This area is about light and space and puts the public at the centre of the building in every sense as well as functionally giving them uninterrupted views of the movement of the buses.

The administrative offices on the first floor overlook the central waiting area and so keep the customer very much in the mind of the office staff.

In this way all users of the building share in the benefits of a light and bright airy space.

Construction.
The building is a relatively straight forward loadbearing blockwork with the steel in the atrium also being used to prop the cantilever of the upper first floor. The atrium is a complete planar glass assembly for both roof and walls. This atrium is used actively as a heat exchange volume in the mechanical servicing of the building.