Skin of Architecture: Double Skin 10

Source: Pedro Pegenaute archdaily.com

Ceip Martinet, Cornellà de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain, 2007 designed by Mestura Arquitectes

A ceramic lattice acts as protection for passive solar south facing corridors giving access to primary classrooms. The faces of these parts most exposed to the sun-glazed surface have 2 ranges of 3 different colors each. The exposed faces west orientation combine a range of 3 color green “spring”, while those exposed in the east combine a range of 3 earthy colors “fall.”

The lattice functions at various scales, from the Ronda de Dalt the main facade of the school is very visible, and becomes a big announcement that is integrated into the landscape of large containers nearby industrial area, while underscoring the middle distance is three-dimensional geometry of the parts. From the inside is a double façade that controls the light and creates a play of light and shadow that changes over time. -- ArchDaily

Source: Brad Feinknopf archdaily.com

McGee Art Pavilion, Alfred, New York, USA, 2011 designed by ikon.5 architects

Its ceramic façade, made of un-glazed terra cotta tubes, is a solar and rain screen. The tubes that make up the screen are suggestive of the ceramic vessels and art objects created inside the School of Art and Design. Their un-glazed flushed white pigment is similar to the nature of student art work before final finishing. Furthermore, the staggered pattern of the façade is enthused by the racks of unfinished ceramic articles that envelop the art studios. -- ArchDaily

Urban Sketchers

Urban Sketchers started online as a flickr group in 2007 and later became a nonprofit organization. Our mission as a nonprofit is to raise the artistic, storytelling and educational value of location drawing, promoting its practice and connecting people around the world who draw on location where they live and travel. We aim to show the world, one drawing at a time. 

This is the manifesto we follow: 

We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation. 

Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel. 

Our drawings are a record of time and place. We are truthful to the scenes we witness. 

We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles. 

We support each other and draw together. 

We share our drawings online. 

We show the world, one drawing at a time.  -- Urban Sketchers

Open Up

Source: greatbuildings.com

Lang Music Building, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, USA, 1973 designed by Mitchell/Giurgola Associates

The most remarkable characteristic of the auditorium space, however, is the large glass wall behind the stage, offering a view of the surrounding wooded landscape. This unusual design element for a recital hall, which are usually windowless spaces, was an attempt by Giurgola to further integrate the building with the landscape and maximize the potential that such a beautiful landscape offered. This glass wall, which was reduced in size during discussions with the College about the design, was one of the most controversial elements of the building, provoking concerns that it would not be acoustically sound or that it was a prioritization of aesthetic desires over Quaker-like functionalism. -- "Preserving the Work of Mitchell/Giurgola Associates" by Brendan R. Beier, University of Pennsylvania, P. 60

Source: epsteinjoslin.com

Seiji Ozawa Hall for The Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood, Massachusetts, USA, 1994 designed by Epstein Joslin Architects

A 1200 seat interior concert hall with doors at the rear, opens to allow a 2000 seat lawn audience to see the performance. The hall is the main stage of the Tanglewood Music Center, a summer fellowship program for pre-professional musicians. It is also the setting for performances by world-renowned recitalists and chamber groups. The hall can also be acoustically isolated for use as a professional recording studio. -- architect's web site

Source: rcmf.org

Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport, Massachusetts, USA, 2010 designed by Epstein Joslin Architects

A 335-seat Concert Hall with Lobby and upper floor Reception Room, inserted within the rebuilt and expanded historic Haskins Building on the main street of Rockport, MA, is the new home of the Rockport Chamber Music Festival. The worn exterior of the mercantile edifice has been returned to its 1845 Second Empire splendor to enhance the charm of its historic village setting. The interior has been completely reconfigured as a world-class performance venue that integrates the beauty of the ocean setting on which it adjoins. The oceanfront façade has been reshaped to open all public rooms to the harbor and add a new joyful and scaled face to the Town’s harbor edge. -- architect's web site

The official web site of Rockport Music

Source: Tamas Bujnovszky archdaily.com

Franciscan Chapel, Kisfakos, Nagykanizsa, Hungary designed by SAGRA

The proportional mass of the building and its roofs’ contour has drawn themselves in the landscape, closing the space of the courtyard bordered by the buildings of the farm. Each opening of the building is framing one of the misterious creatures of nature, shaping space and time each steps. Being inside and outside can be experienced at the same time. -- ArchDaily

Skin of Architecture: Pattern 10

Source: 3XN archdaily.com

Saxo Bank, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2004 designed by 3XN

The building is shaped like two blocks with the end walls pointing towards the canal, joined together by facades that are withdrawn from the end walls. The facades are shaped like double curved glass that wave like a piece of textile. -- ArchDaily

Source: Christian Richters archdaily.com

Cite du Design, Saint-Etienne, Loire, France, 2009 designed by LIN Architects

.... the project also incorporates the integration of a new building, the “platine” which is an interclimatic laboratory, a 31 m high observation tower, gardens and a public esplanade.The Platine’s geometric skin pattern is an adaptive envelope that wraps exhibition spaces, an auditorium, a green house and a library.  The seemingly random dispersion of transparent and opaque triangles is linked to the varying programmatic element’s needs of light.  In this way, the façade responds to the program housed within while also becoming an expression of the different activities in the Cité du Design. -- ArchDaily

Source: 3XN archdaily.com

Bella Sky, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2011 designed by 3XN

A 15 degree incline is incorporated into the two towers, allowing the designers to create a variation of 200 rooms, providing a unique and diverse hotel experience for the users. The two towers lean away from one another to provide each room with an unobstructed view of the city. -- ArchDaily

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Source: Moreno Maggi archdaily.com

Georges-Freche School of Hotel Management, Montpellier, France, 2012 designed by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas 

The project can be called “experimental” as much for its triangular shaped aluminium façade as for the use of reinforced concrete.  Both materials have been adapted in order to be able to adopt specific shapes  – curved and fluid – as required by the structure. The facades of the building have been constructed using 17,000 cases of anodized aluminum in triangular shapes. Each aluminum case is unique and bears its own specific bar code in order that it can be identified for its specific situation on the façade. The interaction between the facades reinforces the dynamic tension between the solid materials and the cavities, the light and the shadows, that are an inherent part of the projet.  The geometric design of the aluminum “skin” is developed further to apply to the 5,000 triangular glass frames that are mounted on metal nets. -- ArchDaily

Source: Claudio Manzoni archdaily.com

Bicentennial Civic Center, Córdoba, Argentina, 2012 designed by Lucio Morini + GGMPU Arquitectos

A medium-rise building housing the ministries dominates the complex: a faceted prism made out of concrete.  It is based on a square cuboid 45 meters high and with a side measuring 26 meters, which at a height of 16 meters suffers a 20-degree rotation.  This movement generates a more complex morphology based on triangles, which in turn produces a very particular play of shadows and light.  To avoid the flat character present in the early studies for the triangular facades produced by the rotation, a series of geometric rhomboid-based combinations were explored in order to instill tri-dimensionality to the very planes of the facades. -- ArchDaily

Source: Michael Schmucker archdaily.com

Podium at Menlyn, Pretoria, South Africa, 2012 designed by Boogertman + Partners Architects

The monochromatic triangular facade consists of a 3 shaded curtain wall of grey glass which spans the soft curve of the building on the corner of Atterbury Road and Lois Avenue, as well as the south façade. This striking feature takes full advantage of its prime location directly across from Menlyn Park Shopping Centre. The curtain wall acts as a mirror to the sky, evolving in colour and intensity as the sun moves across the African sky. In some instances the mottled facade appears as a single uniform colour from the outside. -- ArchDaily

Source: Zhubo Design Zstudio archdaily.com

Administrative Office Building of South University Of Science And Technology Of China, Guandong Province, China, 2012 designed by Zhubo Design Zstudio

To adapt to the southern climate, we create three courtyards within the office area. -- ArchDaily

Source: Tord-Rikard Söderström archdaily.com

Aula Medica, Solnavägen 7, Karolinska Institutet, 171 65 Solna, Sweden, 2013 designed by Wingårdhs

The twisted elevation is made entirely of flat glass panes; a geometry made possible by the triangular pattern that encloses the entire building. A variation of different panes handles the demands for insulation, transparency as well as shade without compromising the uniform character. -- ArchDaily