Land, sea and sky in perfect harmony

Land, sea and sky in perfect harmony

The Welsh National Sailing Academy building used Danpalon® translucent polycarbonate panels for a curved hall façade and a round hall roof to maximise the amount of daylight for the preparation of sailing boats and their scrutinising by competition judges.

Situated on an exposed North Wales peninsula between the Irish Sea and the Afon Erch river estuary, the stunning Welsh National Sailing Academy building at Pwllheli is both an international centre of excellence for sailing and a multi-purpose event space for the local community. Working with the Sailing Academy and the Gwynydd County Council, Ellis Williams Architects based the building’s unique design on the classic principle of ‘form following function’.

A unique spiral building design is centred on a large circular main hall, enabling fully rigged boats to be towed in and out with ease while being protected from the location’s strong coastal winds. A critical design criteria for the project was to maximise the amount of natural daylight entering the circular hall to assist in the preparation of sailing boats and their close scrutinising by competition judges.

To meet this requirement, Ellis Williams specified Everlite Concept's Danpalon® translucent polycarbonate panel cladding system for both the curved hall façade and the round hall roof. To harmonise with the project’s extensive use of natural stone gabions, sea grass banking and treated softwood building materials clear (uncoloured) Danpalon® panels were selected and pre-treated with Everlite Concept's Softlite finish to limit light glare and achieve a subtle matt appearance.

The translucent panels also enabled a variety of attractive night time building illumination effects to be achieved using energy-efficient coloured LED lighting, while its excellent thermal properties mean the central hall is able to function as an unheated event space. With its unique and stunning aesthetic appearance, the Welsh National Sailing Academy has won a series of national architecture prizes including the RIBA Regional, LABC, ICE and CEW awards.

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