Kinetic Building Façades

Substance and style

• SCX was tasked with the design, manufacture, install and commission of a moving portcullis door assembly

• The decorative portcullis’ 15mm thick stainless-steel panels weigh in at 800kg each and are opened and closed by a hand crank in just 15 seconds
• The door assembly consists of two independent systems where gearboxes featuring output shafts are connected to a driving chain sprocket forming part of a closed-loop chain

Tilt to open

• Floor 44 of the One Blackfriar tower in London required two internally opening doors to allow maintenance and cleaning access to the building’s exterior
• SCX’s design enabled off-site testing, intelligent use of limited space, and simple controls for ease of operability
• Hydraulic actuators lean the external facade back before raising them inside of the building, significantly reducing wind loading on the panels

Suiting every occasion

• As part of a wider screen system at Lords Cricket Ground, SCX designed and installed a set of bespoke hinged access doors with integrated sight screens
• These doors pivot open horizontally to enable access to the pitch from under the grandstand
• A key capability was the seamless alteration to its colour, with additional black panels that can be attached and removed from the white ones depending on whether single day or test-match cricket is being played

How do they get there anyway?

• In many cases, the installation of the door contains numerous complications due to the space available and proximity to other assets
• SCX assisted with one such example by developing the lifting gear that would place pre-built platform screen door (PSD) modules into position at 8 London stations
• The solution lifts the PSD modules from a works train flatbed wagon, directly into their location on the platform

A unique outline

• SCX was approached to identify the optimal configuration for a door at the top of the Scalpel skyscraper in London
• The agreed design comprised of five modules powered by two hydraulic cylinders was then commissioned, tested, and installed
• A balance of internal and external motion addressed structural compatibility, weight, and wind damage concernss

Part of a bigger picture

• SCX delivered the façade access for maintenance equipment at the top of Sir Norman Foster's iconic London Skyscraper, 30 St Mary Axe (The Gherkin)
• As part of the wider system, the façade’s roller shutter doors open up to enable a carriage to exit its storage bay which is then securely attached to the external rails with shock bolts
• Safety edge and infrared detectors prevent door closure on any person or machinery

Up and under

• SCX designed, commissioned, and Installed the retractable pitch at Tottenham Hotspurs stadium, which places the grass pitch under the grandstand and inside the parking lot to reveal an artificial one
• To move the pitch into place, the entire touchline raises hydraulically through 1.8 metres, which provides plenty of vertical space for it to fit
• Hydraulic power packs open the surround flaps, before powerful rams raise the structure, all carefully synchronised via an SCX engineered EC&I system