The Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre

Szerelmey installed 75mm thick Clipsham ashlar cladding for the new auditorium and theatre building for Worcester College. Large blocks of Clipsham were used to form the quoin corners and fin details to the front facade, which faces onto the college cricket pitch. This was a complicated build, particularly due to the size of the ashlar blocks and significantly due to the design of the radiating fins. The building is designed along a footplate similar to a “Spanish fan” or wedge shape and incorporates a large number of fins that radiate both externally and internally, and therefore had to be perfectly aligned. Further complication was added through the design of the undulating GRC ceiling, to which the fins also had to align. The substructure is mostly steel with the stone individually fixed back with a custom restraint system. At ground floor level there are 18 fins at 6m high and at roof level there are 28 radiating fins at 5m high, all supported on steel work and restrained back at the top and bottom, handset on site in 400mm sections.