Architects: Hawkins\Brown Location: Northants, United Kingdom Project Year: 2010 Client: Corby Borough Council Project Area: 715.35 sqm Photographs: Tim Crocker, Hufton + Crow
Now completed and open to the public, the Hawkins\Brown’s striking glazed Corby Cube is the focal point of a major regeneration programme to revitalize the former steel making town in Northants, UK.
The building features a mix of facilities including: a 450-seat theatre with front of house foyers and bars, multifunctional studio space, café, library, Council Chamber, Terraced Roof Garden with adjacent exhibition space or restaurant, Corby Borough Council One-Stop-Shop and civic offices.
Corby Cube breaks the tradition of a formal town hall situated at the head of the town square and is instead located in the centre of the new square with four active fronts. An external envelope of black and reflective glass gives the building its characteristic glistening object-like form. Each elevation is distinctively articulated within this: the North elevation is animated by the projected transparent glazed entrance foyer; the East elevation is animated by a double-height window into the council chamber; a cantilevered reading room projects out of the first floor of the South elevation providing shade to café; the West elevation expresses the library within. The pure form of the building is unobstructed by service entrances and plants which are contained in a below ground undercroft.
Treating the roof as a fifth elevation, they planted generous public roof terraces on the building’s upper levels with full-size trees, and feature sedum and brown roofs to enhance the site’s ecology.
All facilities are arranged around an internal route, coiled inside the cube form, allowing access for all. Many facilities have a ground floor presence and are inextricably linked, arranged around a continuous route, which rises from the foyer through the building and culminates in a helical stair leading to the rooftop terrace. The building combines uses to ensure activity around the clock, from early morning visitors to the library and café to late night performances in the theatre.
