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Imperial West Tower London

The 140-meter-high residential tower of Imperial College announces itself from afar as part of the campus architecture with its unitized façade featuring glass and terracotta surfaces.

Top-hung windows for glass and terracotta façades

Imperial West Tower – Urban living on 35 floors

With the purchase of a 4.7-hectare site in the London district of White City, Imperial College London laid the foundation for its new White City Campus in 2013 – the university’s first major new building in over 100 years. A total of ten new buildings for research, teaching, residential, and commercial use were constructed here. Outstanding in every sense is the 35-storey Block F: the 140-metre-high residential tower with 198 apartments for the university’s key staff is visible throughout the West London cityscape. Its distinctive unitised façade of glass and terracotta panels gives the tower a strong visual presence and, even from a distance, points to the architectural identity of the new campus. Around 2,400 individually configured façade elements create a striking appearance and a high degree of design variety, while also ensuring efficient construction. The façade elements of the residential tower were mostly manufactured in 1.5-metre widths and clad with a combination of glass and terracotta panels.

A special feature of the east façade is its staggered structure: every second floor is set back from the façade line, creating a private terrace. These are accessible via large sliding doors (2.8 x 3 metres). For the intermediate levels, laterally offset balconies were realised using an additional steel structure. This required another special solution for the construction of the adjacent façade elements. The new campus combines residential, teaching, research, and public infrastructure into a vibrant urban quarter.

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Top-hung window fittings with an opening angle of up to 30°, equipped with AK 8 locking system, were used. This solution combines effective ventilation with safe operation and meets the highest requirements for functionality. For an elegant, homogeneous façade appearance – even with open windows. Infinitely adjustable opening angle, high air exchange rate, and no space required inside – ideal for natural ventilation concepts.

The top-hung function offers both functional and aesthetic advantages for many construction projects: when opened, the sash tilts slightly outwards and remains stable in any position – ideal for a homogeneous exterior appearance in all-glass façades (structural glazing).