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Coventry’s Visitor Information Centre
In late 2020, Creative Giants were appointed to design a show-stopping Visitors Information Centre ready for Coventry’s City of Culture year in 2021. I worked with Coventry Council and Creative Giants to produce a self-contained building/artwork that sits next to Coventry’s iconic railway station which will provide information on all the excitement in the city to visitors and local residents.
The overall design of the Information Centre was created as a specific response to the character of Coventry, its site conditions, and providing flexibility in both the building use and construction method. The structure is split into two sections: the sculptural shell and the practical inner core.
The aim of the design from the outset was to provide the best possible environment for sharing information, to have a strong a visual impact to the streetscape which works as an artwork and is flexible enough to allow ever changing Covid restrictions and can accommodate use for the City of Culture, Commonwealth Games, and future events. The small 15m2 interior squeezes in everything it needs, including a welcoming desk for three members of staff and a small ‘back office’ to make a cup of tea and store literature on events in the city.
Form
The design of the building is split into two key parts, the ‘practical core’, which is a simple form that has all the sensible required elements of the buildings, and the ‘sculptural shell’, which acts as an instantly recognisable artwork and speaks to Coventry’s brave & wonderful architectural history, in particular building on the ethos of the bold, small scale buildings, such as Coventry’s Dome Sweet shop and the Lady Godiva Cafe, which sadly no longer exist.
The design takes on a ‘cut diamond’ form, created so the multiple angles of the facade catch the sunlight in dramatic ways depending on the weather and where you view the design. This is in the same vein as Coventry’s post war use of curtain wall glazing, in particular the adjacent Railway Station in the facade of the close by Frier House, designed to reflect the ever-changing sky of the midlands. The steel frame holds up the reflective perforated panels which both reflects the light and allows you to see through. The ‘sculptural shell’ has a dichroic coating applied which subtlety changes depending on the weather or the angle you view it. On a bright summer day, the finish turns white where the sun bounces off the facade, with the rest of the perforated metal sitting in shadow turning a dark blue. During the more grey and overcast days in the midlands, the reflected light creates a subtle array of blues, greens and purples which follow the viewer as they move around the site.
Designed specifically for the open nature of the site that it sits in, the lack of any neighbouring walls or buildings creates a context in which the Information Centre must be seen as a standalone object and is instantly recognisable to visitors as an approachable space.
The functional inner section of the pod is intended to be visible through the external form to allow the public to understand the construction and sequencing of the building, again a characteristic of post-war modernist and brutalist architecture for which a lot of Coventry’s city centre is known for. The large windows on the pod providing varying views out, as well as in, which will keep the internal space filled with natural daylight.
Flexibility
Flexibility was key in the design to allow the building to be safe to use if Covid19 restrictions remain in place as well as having the potential to be used in different ways depending on the time of year and the weather. This flexibility also allows the opportunity to utilise the space for other purposes, such as community groups, when it is not functioning as a visitor information centre.
The pod transforms in aesthetic from when it is closed to when it is open. Once the shutters are fully open there is the opportunity to slide open the windows which can become serving hatches to create a fully functioning information centre without the need for any member of the public to enter. This was a key design move to keep the building functional during extremely busy events or if entry wasn’t possible due to any covid restrictions that may return.
Construction
The building was fabricated and installed by Millimetre who Creative Giants worked closely with to detail the building so that it could be built off-site in components to be more sustainable with the project and reduce construction work on site. Using modern methods of construction, the whole building was built in a warehouse, then craned into position to create a speedy build time.
The ambition with Coventry’s Visitor Information Centre is to allow it to have a life after it’s 10-year commission. This is proposed in 2 ways; either by keeping the ‘inner core’ can stay where it is positioned in front of the station and a new ‘sculptural shell’ can clad the building to suite the next user of the building. Equally, due to the way it has been constructed by Millimetre, the ‘inner core’ can be lifted out of place and donated to a place in Coventry that needs it, such as a local school. Creating something more sustainable by giving it a new life after Visit Coventry no longer needs it.
Design - with Creative Giants, in collaboration with Millimetre.
Location - Station Square, Coventry
Client - Coventry City Council
Photo credit - Ben Kearns & Millimetre