Digital Computer Centre, for Digital Equipment Company, Reading, 1979-1981. In June 1979, Terry Farrell was commissioned to carry out a feasibility study for the use of a speculatively built industrial shed on which Digital Equipment Company had taken out a long lease. The adapted building inverted the traditional concern for the external skin of industrial architecture as the shell already existed. Instead, Farrell focused on providing a series of independent objects within the shell that could be built with minimum interruption to the existing building, at the least cost, and greatest speed.

The final building used an open-plan solution on two levels. The decision was taken to insert a long thin mezzanine inside which was structurally independent from the existing building shell. Adapting to a low budget, much of which had to be spent on services and the computer room, it was this mezzanine that became the focus of the identity of the building. The heating system was suspended from the balustrade of the mezzanine, in prime view. It was painted lilac blue, with the enclosing walls painted in various shades of harmonious grey. Pairs of heating units were hung from the roof, with the fresh air ducts and flues cutting through the roof. Either side of the heater assemblies were vertical connectors to the horizontal balustrade ducts. These formed processional archways to the mezzanine, penetrated by the stairs and bridge.

Construction Partners:
Quantity Surveyor: Michael F Edwards and Associates