Overview
Despite a small-scale project, it shares the limelight equally, if not more, in architecture and stainless steel field with its novel and bold design. This week let us explore Bermondsey Bicycle Store in London and see what role stainelss steel plays in this interesting case together. Let’s set off now!
Bermondsey Bicycle Store
Completed in 2008, Bermondsey Bicycle Store is a community space for storage of 76 bicycles, featuring a double-decker system designed by bike rack manufacturer Josta. It has been designed and built for people living or working close by, encouraging a green and healthy way of getting around the city.
Bermondsey Bicycle Store is located at Bermondsey Square, in South London, only a short distance away from the famous Tower Bridge in UK. It measures 11 meters long, 7 meters wide and 5 meters high with an investment of £120,000 (AJ Contributor 2009).
Background Information of Bermondsey Bicycle Store
Bermondsey Bicycle Store consists only a tiny part of the fabric of the ever-evolving urban landscape of the Bermondsey Street area, which economy was first driven by wool trade, then by leather industry. Later antique dealers came to take over the spaces as the tanneries departed for larger sites elsewhere.
However, in the 1990s, the antiques trade started to decline, left the area totally dilapidated with many derelict industrial buildings. A transformation led mainly by refurbishment or new construction ushered the run-down area into a vibrant new area with thousands of residents and 500 small businesses as seen today. (Clare Birks 2024).
Bermondsey Square containing the store was the larger project for the sustainable developer igloo, contributing partially to the regeneration of the whole area. The site used to be employed for the Caledonian Antiques market, but the downturn in trade of the Antiques led to a weaker market. It became overlooked and was subsequently reduced to a car park. That’s how it came to be a new focus for an old area (Clare Birks 2024). Over the same period, there had been other modern buildings designed and constructed by distinct architects, say Munkenbeck, Marshal and East, to fulfill different functions in the surrounding area (Christian Taki et al. 2010).
The Design of Bermondsey Bicycle Store
Thanks to the unique design by the local firm Sarah Wigglesworth Architects, Bermondsey Bicycle Store never fails to assert its prominent existence to the passersby. In spite of the fact that it can be the least dominant object in the neighborhood, it’s impossible to ignore it. It merges harmoniously into its surroundings via the same green color, wooden texture and metal material, yet it stands out. The striking façade, decorated with triangular patterns bespeaks its identity all the time.
Along with other street objects such as benches, bollards, a petanque pitch and cycle hoops, Bermondsey Bicycle Store fulfills the vision conceived by East, the landscape proposer who imagines the square as a carpet ornamented with jewels (AJ Constributor 2009). The inspiration is drew from the Antiques Market (Rachael Sykes 2009). In the like manner, the prefabricated triangular panels composing the store’s façade are based on the geometry of the gem-like bollards from the external landscaping (AJ Constributor 2009), fully reflecting the historical background of the site.
Stainless Steel Applied in Bermondsey Bicycle Store
The store is eco-friendly, built from 13 wooden (Douglas Fir) portal frames, clad with triangle-module stainless steel panels outside and translucent glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) sheeting as interior shell. Wire mesh is also applied together to provide additonal strength.
Stainless steel is aesthetically appealing, readily formable, environment friendly and corrosion resistant with least maintenanace requirement. The outside façade clad with triangular stainless steel panels consists the main feature of the building whether in terms of function or apperance. The GRP material is a bonus that enhances environment quality with vivid lighting scene at night. It is weather proof meanwhile its semitransparent feature adds luster to the building. With the GRP, the store enjoys natural sunlight in the day and reflects the light within out as a light donor in the night. The tough materials plus sensor combined lighting function as a deterrent to criminal activity meanwhile commending the store itself to the public.
Stainless Steel from CIVMATS China
If you are looking for irregular stainless steel sheet or plate in China, triangular or trapezoid, as in the case of Bermondsey Bicycle store, welcome to CIVMATS. We can laser cut any shape in high precision per your exact demand. Grades, finishes or/and dimensions are customizable. Below displayed are the trapezoid stainless steel plates by laser cutting. Welcome to enquire and purchase.
Apart from stocking famous-brand stainless steel coil for readily processing into cut-to-length stainless steel sheet plate strip, CIVMATS also produce in house with strict quality control stainless steel bars (of varied shapes like round, flat, square, angle & channel bars), stainless steel pipe tube, stainless steel wire & ropes. To buy stainless steel materials from China, CIVMATS aspire to be your No.1 choice. Choose CIVMATS, choose reliability and safety in China.
