Wave Apartments | Whitehaven | UK | Coffey Architects

The Wave is an iconic volume located in the centre of Whitehaven town and harbour, which is carved to relate it to the surrounding context creating spectacular views for all inhabitants and enhancing daylight conditions. The building is inspired by the surrounding hills and Whitehavens past. From an urbanistic point of view the building form represents an allegory of the three hills and the waves of the ocean between which the town lies. The Wave can be seen strongly in its wider context as a central focus linking town and sea from all elevated positions. Strong links to the past are associated with the cladding as it accepts and regenerates the low level Victorian grid structure, typical of the town, with gently curved ‘sail’ cladding explosion formed from stainless steel sheet. The surface of the cladding is shot peened with an abstraction of the Atlantic trading journey between Whitehaven and America gently suggested in the resulting mirrored/rough surface. The apartments are located on levels 4-10. The south facing sloping facades of the building form generates unique residential layouts with full width balcony between the sloping facade and the vertical glass facade. Office accommodation is located on the four lower levels to reduce heat gain. Designed as large open, flexible floor areas they can be sub divided into smaller units if necessary......more