INDUSTRYNEWS
Just the ticket
Low Street of Sunderland was once a place where goods were warehoused and ships were built . Today , the young professionals here dream up online games for the company Tombola . The design of the new headquarters embraces the historic industrial architecture of the local area , while the use of SageGlass ® technology provides employees with maximum comfort and a stateof-the-art working environment .
» SUNDERLAND IS LOCATED AT THE mouth of the River Wear in North East England and was originally established as a result of the coal and salt trade in the area . From the 14th to 19th century , people turned their attention to building ships . 200 years later , modern sectors have replaced these longstanding sources of income in the port city . Tombola was founded in Sunderland in 2006 . The family-run company develops and markets extremely successful online games and now has four branches worldwide . In 2018 , to meet the demand for an innovative , high-tech employer , a new headquarters was designed and built by Ryder Architecture . The building , awarded a prize by the Architects ’ Journal , is situated in Low Street in the center of Sunderland , on the southern bank of the Wear .
The main feature of the new building is its trio of roof pitches that merge seamlessly with the longer sides of the red brick outer shell . To contrast this , the fully glazed facade on the eastern side forms the “ face ” of the building and opens up the view of the nearby port . A central , open stairwell links the three floors and allows visual contact across all the levels . The wide , single-flight stairway provides space for meeting others and the seating areas in the middle section invite people to linger . In the evening , the spatial transparency also becomes apparent from outside the building as the front facade loses its reflective effect and the inner levels of the building emit a uniform glow of warm light .
As one of the leading companies in the gaming industry , it was extremely important for the client to create an attractive , contemporary working environment . This can be seen in the open-plan office and communication spaces . The user comfort and climate design also needed to meet the latest standards . As most of the company ’ s staff work on a computer , it was essential to control glare at their workstations . Everyone agreed that the striking appearance of the pitched roofs and glass facade should not be diminished in any way by internal or external shading systems .
After extensive research , the team of architects discovered SageGlass . The dynamic electrochromic glass not only met the clients ’
ambitions for the building aesthetically and functionally , it also provides major performance benefits such as lower HVAC costs and improved individual comfort . A total of 9,365 square feet of SageGlass Climaplus Gray was therefore installed at the new Tombola headquarters .
SageGlass automatically tints in response to the position of the sun , meaning that it can precisely meet the needs of the building ’ s users . The smart glass also reduces operating costs , as it allows comprehensive control of the heat and light entering the building .
www . sageglass . com
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