Maple are putting the finishing touches on a large car park project at Cambridge Science Park.
Despite its imposing size, the new multi-storey is still dwarfed by the neighbouring 1-21 commercial development – 200,000 sq ft and set to become a major tech company HQ. Nevertheless, the Scott Brownrigg-designed car park holds its own as an architectural landmark, thanks to Maple’s striking façade.
Three-metre high aluminium panels make a bold statement and echo the clean lines of plot 1-21’s giant sweeping colonnade. When combined with grey, powder-coated perforated panels, the façade will also protect car park users from the elements but still allow natural light and ventilation.
Central to the façade brief was a requirement for 51% of ‘free space’ between and within the panels to allow exhaust fumes to escape.
Meanwhile, in a sign of the times – with car parks more than functional buildings of concrete and steel – the façade even includes spaces for public art. In an ingenious design, backlit hexagon-shaped ‘frames’ have been bracketed to the façade.
Established in 1970 by Trinity College Cambridge, the Cambridge Science Park is Europe’s oldest and most successful science park. It’s the latest science park project for Maple, having completed a brise soleil system at Oxford Science Park and rooftop plant screening at the Menai Science Park on Anglesey.