Floating Roofs

Source: archdaily.net

Neue National Gallery in Berlin, Germany, 1968 designed by Mies van der Rohe

The building is 64.8m long, with only 2 steel columns on each side, which free the corners giving the building a lightweight look. A very “Mies” building, with a clear and radical idea put on a very minimal, yet detailed structure. -- ArchDaily

Renovation of Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerieby David Chipperfield

The renovation will start in 2015 and last three years, during which time the museum will be closed. -- ArchDaily

David Chipperfield’s “Sticks and Stones” Toys with Van Der Rohe’s Bones in Berlin -- ArchDaily

Source: D Jules Gianakos archdaily.com

Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, USA, 1986 designed by Renzo Piano 

Rather than tearing down and making room for all to see this new accomplishment, the central thesis of the project was to keep the integrity of the community in tact. The scale, orientation, materiality, and programmatic layout all adhere to a neighborhood without disrupting any of the preexisting conditions.

...while concrete louvers under a glass ceiling are typical of Piano’s highly engineered roof systems. The portico wrapping around the entire building creates a tectonic understanding of the structure, exposing the steel I-beam columns and intricate detail of the custom steel roof assembly.

Each of the louvers has conduit inside for the possibility of lights to be added to the ends for certain gallery spaces, but many of the galleries and the main circulation are solely illuminated by sunlight passing through the louvers.  -- ArchDaily

The Menil Collection, in Houston, was selected for the 2013 AIA Twenty-five Year Award -- AIA

Source: e-architect.co.uk

Carré d'Art, Nimes, France, 1984-1993 designed by Foster + Partners

The Carré d'Art shows how a building project, backed by an enlightened political initiative, can not only encourage a dialogue between ancient and modern architectures but can also provide a powerful catalyst for reinvigorating the social and physical fabric of a city. -- architect's web site.

Source: ilddenantes.com

Law Courts, Nantes, France, 2000 designed by Jean Nouvel

The architecture proposed here is a modern interpretation of the heritage of signs associated with justice. I have just tried to justly define what an appropriately “just” architecture is, from the long view across the river, through the façade, down to the interior details. It is an exercise of architectural composition, of objectification. It is about translating words like justice, fairness, equality, balance, dignity, and character - and their crossed definitions with other words, other concepts - into constructed signs. -- from architect's web site.

Source: Art on File

Center for the Clinical Science Research, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA, 2000 designed by Foster + Partners

The building set new technical standards, and together with the Clark Centre, represents an exciting new research environment in which interaction between disciplines and individuals is encouraged. -- architect's web site

A detailed case study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UC Berkeley

Source; Foster + Partners

Djanogly City Academy, Nottingham, UK, 2005 designed by Foster + Partners

The transparency of the south elevation offers inspiring views of the playing fields, and brise soleil provides solar shading.  -- architect's web site

Source: Foster + Partners

California State University Channel Islands, Camarrillo, California, USA, 2008 designed by Foster + Partners

The prominent roof canopy responds to both functional as well as symbolic requirements. It is the primary element in linking the library to the rest of the campus and provides a unifying architectural statement. Engineered as a lightweight trussed steel structure supported on circular hollow steel columns it is critical as an environmental device to provide effective sun control to the surrounding accommodation and the louvered canopy casts shadows across the entry plaza that change throughout the day.  -- architect's web site

Source: Te-Ming Chang

California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California, USA, 2008 designed by Renzo Piano

It is currently the only institution in the world to feature an aquarium, a natural history museum, a living rainforest, a planetarium, and world-class research and education programs – all housed under a 2.5 acre green roof. -- Inhabitat

Read a post from ArchDaily.

Source: perkinswill.com

Perkins+Will New Atlanta Office, Atlanta, Georgia, USA designed by Perkins+Will

The optimization of the existing concrete structural frame introduces a new exterior terrace on the fifth level allowing office activities, meetings and functions outside with spectacular views of the High Museum of Art and the Midtown skyline.  -- architect's web site

Read a post from ArchDaily
This project was AIA 2012 COTE Top Ten Green Project -- ArchDaily

Source: construction.com

Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavilion, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA, 2009 designed by Thomas Phifer and Partners

a 6,000-square-foot glass box, crowned by a broad white trellis, housing a café and lounge.

A square in plan, the pavilion is supported by a steel frame around its perimeter, which holds floor-to-ceiling panes of high-performance glass.

Daylight filters through sunshade diffusers marching across the pavilion’s flat roof and is further deflected by a perforated-metal ceiling system that integrates fluorescent lighting and sprinklers. The facades and the 26-foot-wide plaza surrounding the building are shaded by a canopy of steel beams and round aluminum rods supported by slender steel columns. Hanging over the footpaths, the trellis renders the porches active participants in the campus circulation.  -- Architectural Record

Source: Artobserved.com

The new wing of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2009 designed by Renzo Piano

Mr. Piano’s towering glass-and-steel facade, with its floating roof and excruciatingly slender columns, even evokes a lighter, more ethereal incarnation of Mies’s 1968 Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, a landmark of 20th-century design.  New York Times, May 13, 2009.

Read an article from Architectural Review, 1 July, 2009.
Read a post  from ArchDaily.  Another post "Problems for Piano’s Modern Wing" from ArchDaily.

Source: construction.com

Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, Dallas, Texas, USA, 2010 designed by Foster + Partners 

Stretching 463 by 378 feet, the canopy surrounds the red-glass drum that encloses the building’s auditorium, stage, fly tower, and cooling towers. A steel structure with anodized-aluminum louvers set at various angles to follow the sun’s path, it offers solar protection for a public plaza and the 60-foot-high glass walls wrapping around the building’s lobby.  -- Architectural Record

Source: inhabitat.com

New Miami Art Museum, Herzog & de Meuron

The museum is a three-story structure covered in a canopy that completely shades the building and creates a large veranda. -- Inhabitat

Read a post from ArchDaily

Source: James Ewing archdaily.com

Hudson River Education Center And Pavilion, Beacon, New York, USA designed by Architecture Research Office

While the Education Center is an iconic destination, the boat pavilion is conceived as a threshold in deference to the expansive Hudson River. The roof is a horizontal plane of corrugated steel that parallels a large wood deck from which boats launch. The painted steel structure is economical and sturdy. Secure storage for up to sixty-four kayaks or canoes, a changing room and storage area are enclosed by aluminum bar grating panels. The textures, patterns, orientation and details of the corrugated steel, wood deck and bar grating bring these ordinary elements into an elegant composition.  -- ArchDaily

Source: SOM.com

Shanghai Huawei Technologies Corporate Campus, Shanghai, China, 2011 designed by SOM

The Huawei Technologies Corporate Campus integrates two parallel wings of office and lab space bridged by a central building containing administrative offices, cafeteria, and conference rooms. A lush wetlands landscape provides flood control and a strong connection to nature. Each wing features a bamboo-filled galleria that spans its length, resulting in an open plan that creates a sense of community, facilitates easy movement throughout the campus, and allows for future flexibility. The building's double wall glass skin, with integral solar louvers, showcases the native landscape and maximizes daylight penetration to reduce energy consumption.  -- architect's web site

Source: Shu He Photo archdaily.com

Harvest Pavilion, Kunshan, China, 2012 designed by Vector Architects

The harvest pavilion appears a simple, light, and translucent cuboid, with a horizontal thin plane hovering at the top, flying parallel with the horizon in the distance. The plane, made of pre-fabricated aluminum rods, cantilevers out at 4 sides at various depths. The space below becomes a transition zone from the interior to exterior, and promotes the potential activities because of the pleasant shadow casted by the canopy. -- ArchDaily

Source: Juan Alberto Andrade archdaily.com

Plaza Baquerizo Moreno, Guayaquil, Ecuador, 2012 designed by Juan Xavier Chávez

This project was conceptually visualized as a great magic cube that seems to float in the middle of the plaza with the intention that inside different activities and events are developed without losing the free floor movement, the unifying element and that it strengthens the character of open square gives it this mesh or pergola that spatially delimited the grid of grey stone in the middle of the Park. -- ArchDaily

Source: Michel Kievits archdaily.com

Fries Museum, Zaailand, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands, 2013 designed by Bierman Henket architecten

A large, projecting roof above the museum is carried on slender columns. The roof links the museum with the adjacent buildings with a welcoming gesture towards the city. The slender columns refer to the 19th century neo-classical Palace of Justice on the opposite side of the square. -- ArchDaily

Source: Cameron Campbell archdaily.com

Giovannetti Community Shelter, Walker-Johnston Park, 9000 Douglas Avenue, Urbandale, Iowa, USA, 2013 designed by ASK Studio

The architectural solution remains a transparent building sitting on the knoll of the park, connecting all of the park’s elements at the locus called “shelter”. It can also protect 600 people from harm. -- ArchDaily