‘Glass cube’ at Aldi HQ
13th November 2018

PILKINGTON UNITED KINGDOM has helped to create a three-story structural glass cube as part of a £70m makeover and extension at the UK headquarters of Aldi.

The investment has added new architectural features to the building’s exterior and created 14,000 sqm of new space.

Pilkington, working with Stoas Architects and Bennett Architectural, has delivered the glass cube and an external glazed canopy to form the entrance of the building.

Head of sales Phil Savage said: “The Pilkington Planar structural glazing system used to create the glass cube has been refined and improved over many years to arrive at the highly evolved design we have today. Used in this project, it offers uninterrupted views for visitors from inside Aldi’s HQ outwards.”

Aldi corporate property director Mike Clarke said: “The architecture of any building plays a key part in making it a great place to work or visit. The installation supported by Pilkington has helped to deliver modern design features to our HQ, to create a workspace that our colleagues are really proud of.”

To create the appearance of unsupported, almost entirely transparent glass surfaces for the walls and roof, the designer specified the Pilkington Planar structural glazing system, featuring frameless double-glazed units bolted to a supporting steel frame.

Chris Bravington, director at Stoas Architects, said: “Normally, a six-metre wide glass roof would need a central supporting steel beam, but the engineering team at Pilkington worked with us to design a solution that used long laminated glass beams spanning the space in six places to deliver the right amount of support.

“As a result, standing on the floating walkway on the upper level of the cube and looking up, the view of the sky is completely uninterrupted by steel beams, and you see only the transparent glass beams. The effect is a sense of being outdoors while inside, and it’s a feature that really sets the building apart.”

Laminated glass is used in both the roof fins and the roof glazing. The roof fins consist of two sheets of 12mm-thick glass with a 1.52mm SentryGlas interlayer while the cube roof glazing features laminated glass as part of the double-glazed units.