The Car People
Location
Sheffield, UK
Status
Completed July 2007
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The Car People, Sheffield
The building form is an honest expression of its function, which is to act as a showcase. Completed in 2007, the building is constructed from a combination of materials; curtain walling glazing, cladding, stone and brickwork. The main entrance and sales area occupies the South corner of the building. Surrounding this area there are feature canopies and louvres to the key views and elevations of the building. The internal sales area is accompanied with glazing around the entrance and the East elevation, providing a key view out towards the car display area. This architectural language is then interrupted by the introduction of vertical profile metal cladding to the rear of the building in order to define the entrance to the internal valeting area.
The building has been orientated so that the main entrance elevation is visible from the access road and the main road, screening the service yard to the rear. The building acts as a central hub to the development, dividing up the public and the private realm. The building along with fencing and brick walls creates a physical and a visual barrier between the public and staff areas.
The process of purchasing a car has been designed into the scheme through the circular flow of people through the building. The process begins at the entrance, where the glazed façade leads the customer out through the sales area to the display spaces where the car is chosen. The customer returns to the sales area to confirm the sale and the process ends at the entrance area, where the car is collected under the canopy adjacent the main entrance.
The main staff and visitor car parking lies to the south of the building and is accessed from the main entrance road. The service yard lies to the North West and is accessed from this same entrance road. The scheme sits within the existing landscape, embracing the embankments surrounding.
