façade precedents

Harpa Concert and Conference Centre form//light/crystalline Architect: Client: Location: Status: Size: Budget:

Henning Larsen Architects & Batteriid City of Reykjavik Reykjavik, Iceland built, 2011 301,000 SF ...

Program: Circulation: Materials: Structure: Façade:

cultural center, concert venue, conference center, event space entry hall; straight, multi-level stair through common areas glass, steel, concrete cast-in-place concrete core self-supporting steel/glass envelope of over 1000 modular “quasibricks”

Keywords:

basalt crystals, massif, kaleidoscope, color, crystalline

Concepts:

The geometric façade structure is intended to mimic local, Icelandic basalt formations. The characteristic, twelve-sided “crystal” becomes a molule which is tiled to create a selfsupporting enevlope with a strong relationship to nature.

By creating a field of shaped, colored gems, the envelope becomes a crystalline structure which defines the iconicty of the building and dematerializes its mass through the reflection, refraction, and colorization of light.

Innovations:

The modules, or “quasibricks” are human-scaled; each unit has its own steel frame and multi-colored, tinted glass panels.

Developed in coordination with Danish-Icelandic artist, Olafur Eliasson, the façade system relies on a steel framed, custom fabricated, twelve-sided glass module which is tileable and self-supporting. Each side can be fitted with various tints of glass, creating a unique light filtering effect. The roof and some façades use a less complex “sectional” version of this module which has a structural frame of five to six sides, thus dispensing with the hollow space framed by the complete modules. The module frame and glass components were manufactured off-site.

Bicentennial Civic Center structure//tessellated/patterned Architect: Client: Location: Status: Size: Budget:

Lucio Morini + GGMPU Government of the Province of Cordoba Cordoba, Argentina built, 2011 230,000 SF ...

Program: Circulation: Materials: Structure: Façade:

civic center, public administration, auditorium central vertical core concrete cast-in-place structural concrete façade; concrete core structural concrete with geometric patterned openings; glazed “second skin” at interior of structural facade

Keywords:

column-less, structural façade, patterned, tessellated

Concepts:

The structural concrete façade creates a continuous skin which unifies the building mass while rendering the buidling as a scaleless object. The structural skin disguises floor level heights and other features that typically establish relative scale for the observer. Instead the building becomes a patterned object whose diamond-shaped openings operate in both decorative and structural systems.

Innovations:

While the building itself is scaleless due to the masking of key, scale establishing features, the structural skin and its patterned motif operate on two distinct scales. First, the skin is divided into a coarse diagrid of stacked and inverted triangular panels. Each of these triangular panels is then sub-divided into a tessellated field of parallelograms. While initial renderings show a “lighter” structure of more uniform tessellations, the as-built skin features a more irregular pattern; presumably the skin was optimized for structural performance thus “in-filling” pattern areas for better structural performance.

The result of the optimized, irregular pattern creates a more dynamic or seemingly randomized geometric motif (an arguably more pleasing result). The skin also acts as a screen which hides floor to ceiling glazing and creates a void between the external structure and the building envelope (glazing).

The Nebuta (Storytelling) House screen//ribboned/vertical Architect: Client: Location: Status: Size: Budget:

molo, Todd MacAllen & Stephanie Forsythe Municipality of Aomori Aomori, Japan built, 2011 ... ...

Program: Circulation: Materials: Structure: Façade:

cultural center, festival/event space open floor plan, undetermined steel, glass curtain wall steel colun and beam system with regular bays (warehouse) double layered: outer screen a vertically draped steel ribbons, inner layer glass curtain wall

Keywords:

ribbons, curtain, threshold

Concepts:

The building was designed primarily to support a local, annual festival. Drawing on mythical images, paper lanterns, and story-telling, the designers offer an image which visually resonates with local culture. The steel “ribbons” which form the façade are meant to mimic a theatre curtain; a fluid membrane rather than a static envelope. The curtain is “swept aside” in places to allow for building access.

Innovations:

The steel ribbons are draped allong the entire building perimeter. At almost thirty six feet high, the ribbons create an undulating, almost curtain-like façade. As the ribbons hang from the parapet to the ground, they assume a non-uniform twist which, across the entire façade, appear to capture the motion of the wind. They are however entirely static; the twist of each ribbon was manually adjusted on-site. Approximately ten feet behind the screen is the actual building envelope, a glazed curtain wall system. The interstitial space between these layers acts as a space for pedestrian circulation. In fact, the space becomes a deep threshold where the activity of the street is modulated to give way to the mood and activity of the interior program.

Analysis:

The Nebuta House exemplifies the concept of an autonomous building envelope which has little direct, formal relationship with building structure or mechanical systems. The ribboned façade is essentially a decorative wrap around a less formal structural system. The building is basically a warehouse; it acquiesces to the formal language of the façade system. A look behind the vertical, steel curtain reveals a metal-framed armature designed to brace the slender, thirty-six foot tall steel ribbons. This unadorned sub-structure and is relationship to the standard curtain wall interior envelope clearly serve as the functional support for the formal façade treatment.

The designers have successfully capitalized on this system by widening the threshold between decorative façade and functional envelope to create a pedestrian arcade.

Implications:

With Nebuta House, the designers have basically wrapped a nondescript building and its associated systems with a formally independent façade system. Technical envelope performance is relegated to a less formal sub-system. This strategy could be useful for retrofitting existing core and shell projects. By working independently from the core and shell, the screen façade allows a high degree of formal freedom, iconicity, and opportunity to shape the urban image of the building without technically difficult alterations to the existing structure.

Sukhumvit 49 Shophouse screen//masonry/varied Architect: Client: Location: Status: Size: Budget:

allzone, co., with Stefano Mirti Private Bangkok, Thailand built, 2011 7,000 SF ...

Program: Circulation: Materials: Structure: Faรงade:

live-work studios, residential, parking on first floor studio prefabricated concrete masonry unit (CMU) existing structure (reinforced concrete slab and CMU) CMU screen with various patterned units, breezeway, operable glazing behind CMU screen

Keywords:

low tech, masonry, existing construction, screen, variation

Concepts:

This project makes use of an existing building (multi-unit residential) to create a layered faรงade system. Various types of CMU are arranged in distinct bands to create variation in texture and pattern vertically along the faรงade. This low tech intervention creates both a visual pattern and helps define a sheltered, decorative interior envirnment. The screen also delimits am inhabitable breezeway.

Innovations:

While the use of CMU to create a screen in this project is not ground-breaking, it does suggest the possibility that lowtech interventions can provide a sense of visual interest and faรงade performance. The approach to variation and ornament in the use of the CMU is straight-forward and the banding of various CMU types seems deliberate. The overall effect is both monolithic and varied: in daylight, the patterns of the various CMU types recede but when back-lit, the density and arrangement of the patterns create gradients of variation. The masonry screen is attached to a steel armature which also provides inhabitable space behind the screen. This armature deepens the envelope which has both environmental and programmatic benefits.

Analysis:

The use on façade as screen in this case incorporates added exterior space to the existing residential building type. This simple, low-tech strategy performs several functions from privacy to shading to visual design. The simple grouping and stacking of various types of CMU creates a field of varied texture and density. This technique makes a relatively scaleless and monolithic façade which is standardized yet varied. Supporting the masonry screen is a steel framed armature which allows for additional floor area. This void is clever because it not only adds usable floor area, but it creates some space for the visual/shadowing/lighting interplay between the exterior and interior to take place. In affect, it softens the rigid geometries of the various CMU shapes and allows enough distance (when viewed from the interior) for the individual units to be read as fields of variable density.

Implications:

This project suggests strategies for adding ornament, floor area, and a unifying façade treatment to existing structures.

While this project uses a planar (and unsophisticated) arrangment of CMU’s to create a brise soleil, it would be concievable to create undulating, varigated, or more complex stacked masonry patterns supported by a similar steel armature. This type of screen could also be useful for providing some privacy, noise mitigation, and solar control within dense urban environments.

Unité d’Habitation Berlin (Corbusierhaus Berlin) program//agenda/cellular Architect: Client: Location: Status: Size: Budget:

Le Corbusier City of Berlin, Public Housing Berlin, Germany built, 1956-1959 *400 apartments for 2000 occupants ...

Program: Circulation: Materials: Structure: Façade:

multi-family dwelling, public housing, communal services rue interieur exposed concrete, paint cast-in-place concrete cellular arrangement of balcony/living units, colored vertical dividers between units, recessed unit glazing

Keywords:

beton brut, recessed, depth, color, Modernism, cellular

Concepts:

Based on the cellular unit, the façade features recessed glazing which provides a balcony for each unit while giving a bas-relief effect to the façade. To accentuate this depth and spatial effect, the vertical dividers between cells are brightly painted with varied colors. The affect is a colorful, multidirectional façade which is monolithic but textured. Units are accessed via “rue interieur” or interior street, emphasizing the social agenda of Modernist public housing design.

Innovations:

Corbusierhaus Berlin is included in Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation series and was constructed after its more wellknown precedent in Marseilles, France. Unlike this precedent, Corbusierhaus is not based on the modular due to German code requirements. Due to this, Corbusier abandoned the ubiquitous brise-soleil. Instead, the façade relies on some basic material qualities: depth, repetition, and color. The result is a textured façade which changes based on the observer’s perspective. From a programmatic standpoint, the deep cellular arrangement allows some privacy and outdoor space (balcony) and environmental performance (sun shading). The most striking feature is perhaps the use of color which enlivens the brut construction and provides a patchwork effect when viewed obliquely.

Social Housing for Mine Workers form//cladding/parquet Architect: Client: Location: Status: Size: Budget:

Zon-e Arquitectos Town of Cerredo (Asturias) Asturias, Spain built, 2011 25,700 SF ...

Program: Circulation: Materials: Structure: Façade:

subsidized housing common entry to common areas, suites slate, masonry, glass cast-in-place concrete, masonry, steel-framed slate cladding, alternating pattern of square, full-height window bays with white, finished interior reveals

Keywords:

checkered, slate, clad, window units, parquet

Concepts:

The façade emphasizes individual units while establishing an overall parquet pattern. In this case, protruding window bays are used to create a rhythmic, alternating pattern which contrasts the white-finished, lit interiors with the slate-clad exterior envelope. A solid-void pattern is both programmatic and ornamental resulting in an iconic object set in the landscape. Interior reveals allow shadow effects and suggest the depth of the inhabitable interior space.

Innovations:

The architects have taken a relatively common building typology, multi-unit housing, and used its serial quality to create a simple but engaging visual pattern. Using a fixed window “gallery” as the standard component, the façade alternates between solid and void. Each gallery is inserted and aligned to the faceted building mass creating cropped views into and out of the living units. Although the galleries are modules they are each custom fabricated to align to the faceted contours; the geometry of each is trimmed to accommodate angled connection to the primary envelope.

This results in interior reveals of varied depth and geometries.

The use of human-scaled galleries and alternating pattern establish the building’s scale and provide visual interest to a typically mundane and repetitious typology.

Analysis:

This project has embraced and capitalized on one of the more bothersome characteristics of multi-unit housing: serial repetition. By playfully introducing pattern and materiality into the façade treatment, the designers have avoided the typical anonymous repetition of the standard living unit (while completely celebrating the anonynous repetition of the living unit). The simple employment of the parquet pattern activates the façade, allowing it to oscillate from solid to void.

To accentuate this effect, the white interior reveals introduce depth to the pattern. While the galleries are modular in nature, the façade avoids the Metabolist type of modularity by integrating the exterior gallery envelopes with the primary façade cladding. This has the material affect of creating inside/outside surfaces rather than autonomous modules.

Implications:

The designers’ approach to materiality, repetition, and pattern suggests strategies for avoiding the monotonous serial layout of typical multi-unit housing. Especially in dense urban areas where noise, air quality, and other enviromental concerns are present, the alternating large scale glazed openings offer visual connections and light while mitigating adverse factors.

One critical concern, however, is that this parquet strategy may be limited in its application to small-scale façades.