Projects by Name

The Torin Corporation, formerly the Torrington Manufacturing Company, produced air-moving equipment and had its headquarters in Torrington, CT. In 1965, the company asked Breuer and his associate Robert Gatje to design a facility for their British division in the Greenbridge Industrial Estate in Swindon, Wiltshire. The company planned to use the recently completed facility in Nivelles, Brussels as a model both in plan and construction techniques. However, the modular, precast concrete panels used to such striking effect in Brussels proved too cost-prohibitive in England. Instead, most of the facades were sheathed in vertical, white aluminum siding with brick accents around doors and windows. The entrance façade featured a cantilevered canopy - like most of the other Torin buildings – projecting from a black brick façade. A horizontal strip of windows bisected the façade, lining up with the bottom edge of the canopy. Breuer provided a splash of color by painting the structural steel and mechanical elements on the roof red-orange. Frishman-Spyer Associates served as the supervising architects for this project.