‘A collection of innovative concepts, citizenM is a hotel driven by one desire: to create affordable luxury for the people.’ citizenM, Bankside, is a six-storey modular hotel built over a single storey traditional steelwork podium. The design included offices, a boutique bar and restaurant.
CitizenM have invested whole heartedly in the concept of off-site, prefabricated modular construction. They recognise the benefits this offers them in terms of speed of construction and long term building performance. Peter Dann designed bespoke volumetric galvanized light gauge steel frames to create the hotel’s modular bedrooms. Cold formed sections are rolled to the engineer’s specific requirements using pre-galvanized sheet metal. The sections are then cut to length and welded together in a factory environment to form 3D frames that incorporate the floor, ceiling, walls, door openings and services penetrations necessary for each bedroom.
Hot rolled, hot dip galvanized sections are welded into the light gauge skeleton where necessary to stiffen the frame and to carry specific high concentration loadings such as cladding, mechanical & engineering plant and transfer structure. The welded light gauge steel frame arrangement provides a lightweight, dimensionally accurate and stiff structure into which room finishes can be pre-installed prior to delivery to site.
The properties of the steel frame are such that there is minimal flexure of the frame during delivery and lifting and when installed on site there is minimal onward axial shortening under load. This, combined with the lack of shrinkage in the structural components, provides a robust building structure that protects the pre-installed room finishes and minimises building maintenance. Welded light gauge steel structures typically provide enhanced protection against disproportionate collapse due to their high degree of connectivity between structural components. The galvanized steel structural frame provides a building fabric that will far outlast the standard recommendations for building design life.
Architect: Peter Dann
Image: citizenM