ZIG ZAG ACCESS ZIPPED UP WITH TORMAX Story by TORMAX ZIG ZAG ACCESS ZIPPED UP WITH TORMAX
Product Spec Sheet

ElementBrandProduct Name
manufacturerVOLA
Building materialsKingspan Group
SupplierAmwell
FurnitureBrown and Carroll
Fire placesChimflue
manufacturerCox Gomyl

Product Spec Sheet
manufacturer
by VOLA
Building materials
Supplier
by Amwell
Furniture
Fire places
manufacturer

The Zig Zag Building

Lynch Architects as Architects

The building’s form defers to its neighbours - Westminster Cathedral and Westminster City Hall - in terms of scale and geometry, making the latter belatedly appear as a grand ‘civic’ tower in dialogue with the cathedral. The ground, basement and 1st floors comprise restaurants, bars, and shops, and a double height office lobby. Ground level is adorned with hand-worked in-situ concrete columns and a remarkably fine double height white in-situ concrete column defines the entrance lobby. The filigrant, anodised aluminium south facade protects occupiers from solar gain, and smoke vents open to provide ventilation. Vertical solar fins recede as the building rises, decreasing in depth as they become closer together; minimising material usage in a precise response to the parameters of passive solar shading. A hanging, laminated glass screen, with a screen-printed onyx interlayer, protects the south and west facades against heat and glare from low, warm, spring and autumn sunlight. Additionally, the concrete soffits have capillary cooling pipes embedded within them. Most floors benefit from planted roof terraces.


The challenges involved building a deep basement beside the District and Circle line (separated by less than a metre from the site), and to build beside Westminster City Hall and the planning department; to create world-class office space on a very busy thoroughfare on a site forming the setting of the Westminster Cathedral Conservation Area.


The building was almost fully pre-let by the time of Practical Completion. It sets new ecological and economic standards for speculative office design: bringing a new civic, sustainable aesthetic to central London.

ZIG ZAG ACCESS ZIPPED UP WITH TORMAX

TORMAX as Manufacturers

Ground level is adorned with hand worked in-situ concrete columns with a double height white in-situ concrete column defining the entrance. The ground floor includes furthermore over 20 automatic entrances from Tormax.


The filgrant, anodised aluminium south facade protects occupiers from solar gain, and smoke vents open to provide ventilation. Veritcal solar fins recede as the building rises, decreasing in depth as they become closer together; minimising material usage in a precise response to the parameters of passive solar shading. A hanging, laminated glass screen, with a screen-printed onyx interlayer, protects the south and west facades against heat and glare from low, warm, spring and autumn sunlight. Additionally, the concrete soffits have capillary cooling pipes embedded within them. Most floors benefit from planted roof terraces.


More from the Manufacturer:


TORMAX has supplied and installed over twenty automatic entrances to the prestigious Zig Zag building, London Victoria. In addition to two glass revolving doors to the main office entrance, TORMAX was responsible for the automatic sliding and swing doors installed to various restaurants including Jamie’s Italian and Iberica. “This has been a significant project. Our comprehensive range of Swiss-designed TORMAX iMotion door operators meant that we were able to offer the ideal solutions for the demands of the different locations”, confirms General Manager of TORMAX UK Ltd, Simon Roberts. Combining energy efficiency with exceptional reliability, the iMotion range is noted for the longevity of its operators, even in the busiest environments.


Developed by Land Securities and completed in November 2015, the Zig Zag building is 187,000 sqft of high-end commercial office space situated on an island site surrounded by restaurants and retail outlets. Stretching over eleven floors, the building delivers bright, airy, customisable office space as well as three floors of retail outlets. TORMAX was contracted to supply and fit external automatic entrances by Josef Gartner GmbH.


The two TORMAX glass revolving entrances are constructed using a light-frame solution. Designed to be extremely strong, the entrances appear to be almost entirely glass with just a thin crafted aluminium profile on the door leaves and narrow chrome steel profiles on the drum walls. Further contributing to the elegant appearance, the ceiling cover is entirely glass and there is no obtrusive central column.


Driving the revolving doors, TORMAX 5251 high torque microprocessor operators produce exceptionally smooth, quiet operation whilst simplified programming options ensures settings are adapted to consistently minimise energy consumption.


Elsewhere in the Zig Zag development, TORMAX recommended their iMotion 2401 sliding door operators, as well as their iMotion 1301 swing door drives and underfloor concealed iMotion 1401 swing door operators. The entire iMotion range has been designed to for reliability, longevity and minimal routine maintenance with no internal elements to wear out, such as gears and brushes.


“We were delighted to work with Gartner on this iconic development,” comments Roberts. “With such a broad range of technologically advanced door drives, as well as over 60 years of experience in the market, TORMAX is well-placed to handle the varied demands of a project such as this.”

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