Civic
Kidderminster Town Hall
ETFE barrel-vault rooflight over an internal courtyard and atrium.
Kidderminster, United Kingdom
- Sector
- Civic — heritage public building
- System
- ETFE barrel-vault rooflight
- Why ETFE
- Curved form, light structure on historic masonry
The challenge
A historic town hall courtyard was unusable for much of the year. Roofing it in glass would have meant heavy new structure landing on old brickwork, and a permanently altered appearance.
The ETFE solution
An ETFE barrel-vault rooflight spans the courtyard. The curved vault is formed easily in foil, the supporting structure is slim, and the translucent surface keeps the courtyard feeling like an outdoor space that happens to be dry.
The result
A previously dead external space became a usable, daylit civic room, with the historic brickwork left to read as the walls of a courtyard rather than an interior.
