- Sign in | Subscribe
  Log in
  Sign in
  
  Help
  
  Sign in
  
  If you’ve activated your online subscription to the AJ or you already have an account for the AJ Buildings Library, sign in below.
  
  Email address:
  
  Password:
  
  Remember me
  
  Forgotten password? | Subscribe now
  
  By continuing to use the site you agree to our Privacy & Cookies policy
  
  AJ Subscribers
  
  The AJ Buildings Library is available as a subscription benefit to AJ subscribers. If you’ve activated your online subscription on TheAJ.co.uk, you can use the same credentials to sign in on AJBL.
  If you have not activated your subscription on the AJ website you will need to do so to access the AJ Buildings Library.
  
  Not an Architects' Journal subscriber?
  Choose one of these options:
  Subscribe today for immediate access to AJ Buildings Library, TheAJ.co.uk and The Architects’ Journal magazine.
  
  Find out more about all the benefits of a subscription to The Architects' Journal.
  
  For all queries regarding access to AJ online, please email our Online Help Desk at customerservices@ArchitectsJournal.co.uk

Email address:
Password:
	Remember me

10 Hills Place

AL_A , London, 2009

Subscribe now to instantly view this image

Subscribe to the Architects’ Journal (AJ) for instant access to the AJ Buildings Library, an online database of nearly 2,000 exemplar buildings in photographs, plans, elevations and details.

Already a subscriber? Sign in

Eye shaped windows viewed from Oxford Street at night

Edmund Summer Download Original

Adaptation and extension of an office building, designed to maximise and channel natural daylight

Lack of daylight in the narrow streets around this major retail artery was a key issue. By harnessing high quality ship hull technology the architect created a sculptural facade for a this office building just off London’s Oxford Street.

The aluminium skin has been slashed with large glazed areas orientated towards the sky to maximise and channel natural light into the office space

The facade is fabricated using curved aluminium profiles assembled on-site. Self-cleaning glass and hidden gutters within the eyelids ensure the facade remains low maintenance. The fine faceting of the aluminium strips creates complex reflections of sky and street, making the building highly visible.

At ground level a bespoke glass, mesh and dichromatic film sandwich is animated with fibre optics to create visual depth of field and a dynamic moiré pattern on an otherwise blank facade.