New glass facade for Glamorgan

16:07:20 9th July 2008

The Atrium building of the University of Glamorgan has had a makeover.

The Cardiff university has had a 22 meter high glass facade built, forming a walkway between the original teaching building and a new building, which houses a theatre, cinema, TV studios an music studios.

Holder Mathias architect Wilco Stekkinger said his firm had been asked to create an "open and accessible space" and the use of glass allowed them to do that "quite literally".

"The large glass facade is very welcoming and helps to foster a creative atmosphere," he said.

"Using large amounts of glazing encourages the building’s occupants to draw inspiration from the world around them and reinforces the university’s aim to be a transparent institution at the forefront of creative and cultural study."

A combination of high visibility and low emissivity glass was used in the design meaning that heat is retained with the building still benefiting from excellent light transmission.