Piccadilly Arcade

Connecting New Street and Stephenson Street in the heart of Birmingham’s city centre, Piccadilly Arcade is one of city’s premier retail locations.

Dating back to 1910, it originally opened as The Picture House, one of the first purpose-built cinemas in Birmingham, before later becoming an arcade of shops in 1926. Today, the building is home to a range of outlets, some of which still feature original shopfronts from the 1920s.

Given the heritage of the site, Align Architecture was appointed to sensitively refurbish the front and back entrances, delivering two attractive contemporary designs that would attract shoppers, while preserving the original features of the building.

The refurbishment would also successfully bring the historic hand-painted ceiling portraits to life, using modern architectural design techniques and practices to highlight the rich heritage of the building.

This project gave one of Birmingham’s oldest and most important buildings the prestigious appearance it deserved, using contemporary architectural designs to highlight the heritage of the site.

The use of clear-panelled, automatic sliding doors maximised views into the arcade, successfully promoting activity at street level with passing pedestrians, while raising the profile and importance of both entrances.

Carefully-implemented lighting features gave Piccadilly Arcade a warm and spacious feel that matched its purpose as a premier retail location, bringing the original architectural beauty of the building to life with conviction.

We proposed that the new glazed entrances should have openings as high and wide as possible to make the arcade feel like a public space.

This involved making the surrounding frame minimal, which would improve the views through the building, using automatic sliding doors with clear laminated glass to achieve the contemporary design.

Proposing a stainless-steel finish to the pilasters and clad door head frame, the sliding door mechanism would attract people into the arcade.