The National Exhibition Centre in Solihull is Britain’s premier exhibition venue, hosting more than 250 events a year. Following a limited competition, Make has been appointed to develop a scheme which will extend the facilities and equip the NEC for the challenges of the twenty-first century.The complex currently consists of a series of hangar-like buildings situated amidst greenery, with all interest and excitement hermetically sealed within these fairly unremarkable structures. The proposed scheme transforms the site by housing the required facilities within dynamic undulating architectural forms that emerge from the ground plane like crystalline geological features.

Functions within each building are exposed to showcase the NEC’s diverse activities and allow them to directly engage with the landscape.Permeable and accessible, dynamically open and expressive, each building has a distinct identity while forming part of a greater cohesive diagram. The entire scheme creates a vast interactive playground that draws together business people and consumers in an exceptional new public amenity.