RIBA Regional Awards 2020

Story of Gardening Museum Shortlisted

IQ has made it onto the shortlist for the RIBA Regional Awards 2020, for its glazing products used in the multi-million pound renovation of Hadspen House, which has been transformed into “The Newt in Somerset”.

The luxury hotel and garden features an underground museum, which was designed to allow the building to seamlessly slip into its natural surroundings while still giving the museum eye-catching prominence. 

RIBA notes that “its glazed facade has 5m high sliding doors while the interior is simple in-situ concrete, lessening the cooling and heating load”. The use of the oversized glass doors and seemingly endless structural glass wall allows for a total reflection of the treescape, meaning that the museum does not obstruct the natural landscape surrounding it.

The structure-free façade of oversized glazing was designed specifically to the client's specifications; huge 60mm thick panels were used, with 10mm structural silicon joints sliding into deep stainless steel channels at the bottom and the top for a frameless effect.