When told to think of a balcony, you automatically picture an above head height structure. However we were recently asked to design and build a balcony which actually provided a walkway on ground level, and what a stunning and innovative use of our balcony component parts it was!
Tasked to work alongside the architect, we supplied information about our Cast Aluminium Decking Plates so that they could design a walkway for the client’s home that integrated the cast plates and Flamed Basalt stone. The balcony was required for the back passage, which was used to gain access from the front of the house to the back where a fitness suite is situated. Since the balcony was designed within a passageway, the structure had to fit between the house and an outside wall which meant the design became quite complex and technical. As such, the cast decking plates on the floor walkway had to marry up with the position of the rear windows, which span the full height of the outer wall. The Basalt stone was then integrated with the original stone on the house wall and that of the outer wall to produce a continual flow effect, creating a real yin and yang feel!
A significant complication on this project was that the passage tapered towards one end as it reached the fitness room, making fabrication and installation more challenging as not all sections were evenly measured. This meant each individual cross member had to be cut in place and tack welded, before being taken back to the workshop for full fabrication and galvanising. Due to the limited space that we had to work with, the balcony/walkway frame had to be made in very small sections and gently lowered in place to ensure that everything aligned evenly and was fitted exactly.
The client’s preferred plates were from our Diamond Pattern range which provides an elegant twist to the traditional Georgian look. It is a uniform pattern which they wanted to continuously span the length of the walkway. Given the layout and designs of the pattern, this added additional challenges as it entailed over 30 modifications of the pattern to be made in order to create the desired look.
The final outcome was stunning. Sadly we are not able to share images of the finished product yet with you, but it hopefully gives food for thought on how we can use our standard component parts to create something unique and out of the ordinary.
