Mitchell Memorial Youth Arts Centre

An arc of Pilkington Planar™ Triple curves beneath the "Spitfire wing" roof sheltering the entrance to the newly refurbished Mitchell Memorial Youth Arts Centre in Stoke-on-Trent.

The Centre commemorates Reginald Joseph Mitchell, designer of the iconic Spitfire Battle of Britain fighter. The £4m refurbishment has included upgrading of the auditorium, a new 1,000ft² dance studio and new changing rooms, as well as the glass fronted cafe extension which forms the front entrance.

More than 50m² of Pilkington Planar™ Triple has been used to form the deeply curved facade of the extension, made up of an outer pane of 10mm Pilkington Planar™ Sun with a centre pane of 6mm Pilkington Optifloat™ Clear and an inner layer of 6mm Pilkington K Glass™. Since the facade leans outwards, full height mullions had to be installed to frame the vertical entrance doors.

* Mitchell (1895-1937) was chief designer at Vickers Armstrong Supermarine but never lived to see the success of his most famous creation. The Memorial Centre was opened in 1957 by Group Captain Douglas Bader and in 2003, Mitchell was voted the "Greatest Midlander of All Time" - ahead of Shakespeare - in a BBC TV regional poll.