The Ins and Outs of Architecture

Windows, walls, and doors not only form the technical envelope of a building, but they also communicate its design to passersby. Shaping both occupant experience and community reception, these three major building components are integral to the outcome of any project, no matter how mundane or intricate their expression may be.

These building elements are centerpiece of the ever-pressing topic of carbon—in this case, both operational and embodied. The operational leeway of these components can drastically impact the additional energy required for a building’s operation, while their embodied carbon is significant in standard North American building practices. The question of new material technologies for windows, walls, and doors should be at the forefront of these conversations.

AN has selected three projects that explore material selections of windows, walls, and doors in different North American climates. Ranging from stick-frame construction—which still makes up a large swath of American construction—to curtain wall systems that deal with various scales of prefabrication, this section surveys the three components as they play out across a range of typologies.

Grimshaw continues to fill out its West Coast portfolio with the Rob and Melani Walton Center for Planetary Health at Arizona State University, realized with Architekton. The project’s glass-fiber–reinforced-concrete facade was complet- ed with careful planning of the system’s prefabricated metal panels and smaller joints to give the appearance of a contiguous wall with scalelike geometry.

In a deceptively flat-paneled glass and metal facade, Perkins&Will’s building for York University’s School of Continuing Studies in Ontario twists and turns. With a waterproofing and drainage system built into the facade, the outer wall meets both technical requirements and the design team’s aesthetic aspirations as its angles give the appearance of a building on the move.

At Emory Midtown’s Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta, SOM balanced large east- and west-facing facades with heat gain challenges in a 17-story curtain wall. The unitized system was designed with careful consideration of long-term maintenance.

An additional pictorial examines the subject with a more artful eye. In Austin, Faye + Walker’s film-inspired Aperture House is captured through the lens of Leonid Furmansky. Beyond the formal treatment of the garage apartment’s four corner dormer windows, the building explores how stick-frame construction can inform an expressive facade without driving up costs.

Since materials research and emissions requirements may significantly change what these systems look like in the future, these four offerings provide a range of adaptations that offer innovative interpretations. CW