Aberdeen – Corporate Headquarters Roof Terrace

IOTA was commissioned to design and manufacture bespoke planters and seating, for the roof terrace of a new corporate headquarters building in Aberdeen.  

Given the exposed location and harsh environment, and thus risk of corrosion, 3.0mm Aluminium was specified; powder coated to RAL 7016 [Anthracite grey] in a robust, hard-wearing paint formulation. The formed arm rests were manufactured from 8.0mm 1.4003 Stainless Steel, powder coated – a material with unique advantages, as discussed here: 1.4003-GRADE STAINLESS STEEL. The timber used was European Oak.

The essential design concepts appear deceptively simple, but this was in fact a challenging brief.

Specifically, designs based on non-constant radiuses are always a challenge in sheet metal; and, on this project, the complexity of the radiuses was extreme [for example, the shape of the linear bench, end-to-end, evolves through no less than 12nr. different radiuses].  

Such shapes generate significant manufacturing challenges in sheet metal – specifically:
 

• With designs based on non-constant radiuses, the forming is much more complex than simply rolling a sheet of metal into a constant radius.
   
• Such shapes are also harder to weld – particularly in Aluminium, which is inherently a more challenging material than Steel in which to manufacture.
   
• With timber benching, non-constant radiuses also mean that no single machined profile will be able to create the overall form and arrangement; and thus multiple CAD models, and multiple machining batches, are required, significantly adding to complexity. For the benching on this project, over 200nr. individual timber profiles had to be machined, in 11nr. different profiles each with its own CAD model.       
   

The garden was designed by The Garden Design Company Scotland Ltd., on behalf of a confidential client; and IOTA’s elements were commissioned, and installed, by Space Solutions [Scotland] Limited.