Architecture Commons^™

Currency Museum, Costa Lopes

Building Case Studies

The metallic parasols generate shadow and urban scale.

Shanghai Hongqiao Performing Arts Center, Bau

Building Case Studies

Solid, brittle and transparent. Some level of reflective.

Terra Cotta Studio, Tropical Space

Building Case Studies

the façade is made up of perforated brickwork patterns to allow the building to be open-air while creating spaces within for the artist to store and display work

Red Mirror Strips, Wise Architecture

Building Case Studies

The structure of the building follows the image of the strips. Instead of the general H-shape steel columns, numerous thin hollow steel sections support the building. It is like glazing the mullions to maximize building transparency from the interior. The building consists of many layers of materials: from steel, glass, super mirror strips, red transparent polycarbonate strips, and then back to super mirror strips. These layers make the in-between space of the stair passage fluid and blur its boundaries. They challenge the idea that architecture exists as a rigid structure in solid state.

Cloud Seeding Pavilion, Modu

Building Case Studies

The ceiling supports 30,000 balls that move freely with the wind across its surface. This overhead movement allows public events to occur in different areas of the pavilion, connecting its cultural and leisure programs to the invisible forces of weather.

Tesla Solar Roof, Tesla

Building Case Studies

The roof tiles are actually made of textured glass. From most viewing angles, they look just like ordinary shingles, but they allow light to pass through from above onto a standard flat solar cell. These roofs should far outlast the standard 20-year life cycle common for roofing materials used today and are able to power a strandard home.

Enel Pavilion, Piuarch

Building Case Studies

650 polycarbonate vectors. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, tough materials, and some grades are optically transparent

Smart Masonry, Zaarchitects

Building Case Studies

"The Smart Masonry is a structural design and a construction method, based on traditional masonry techniques. It deploys the digital optimization to minimize dead-weight of the skeleton and the robotic construction technique to assemble complex geometry."

Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center Case Study By, Hok

Building Case Studies

Inflated ETFE cushions cast a soft, translucent light throughout the great hall, while the additional frit pattern on the outer layer reduces solar heat gain

Aga Khan Museum, Fumihiko Maki

Building Case Studies

The Brazilian granite slabs offer a delicately textured facade that could be mistaken for marble.

Arquipélago - Contemporary Arts Centre, Menos É Mais Arquitectos, João Mendes Ribeiro

Building Case Studies

The project of the Arquipélago does not exaggerate the differences between the old and the new buildings. On the contrary, it seeks to unite the different scales and times of its parts throughout a pictorial manipulation of the form and materiality of the buildings - the existing constructions are marked by the volcanic stone masonry and the new buildings are characterized by an abstract form, without reference or allusion to any language, built in concrete with local basalt inert continuously working with the variation of surfaces’ textures and rugosity, complementing the mass of the buildings with the emptiness of the …

Nest We Grow, Kengo Kuma And Associates, Uc Berkeley College Of Environmental Design

Building Case Studies

4 glulam larch timber columns are notched with a series of reoccuring moment connections.

Herostrasse Office Building, Max Dudler

Building Case Studies

The way the façade appears to be "carved out" referecnes thenatural material quality of stone

2014 Winter Olympic Stadium, Populous

Building Case Studies

Material of interest: Crystalline skin

The crystalline skin engages with its surroundings by day, and provides iconic representation of the color and spectacle of the games when illuminated at night. It is also a lightweight material.

155 Cumberland, Quadrangle Architects Ltd

Building Case Studies

Material of interest: Steel.

Properties of material: The existing building required significant structural work to update, reinforce and strengthen it so that it could bear the weight of the 1,400 tons of steel used in this project.

Wood Masonry, Michael Halls

Building Case Studies

Material of interest: Cordwood masonry.

Material used: Cordwood Masonry is a traditional construction method where cordwood logs are laid sideways in a bed of mortar. The process is said to be low in carbon and highly insulating, due to the thickness of the walls

Properties of material: One of cordwood masonry’s biggest advantage for local builders is the easy accessibility of the materials. Wood does not need to be highly processed, and simple firewood is usually sufficient. Mortar mixes are also easily accessible to the general public, which is why cordwood masonry is popular in rural, self-built homes. It is …

The Cola-Bow, Penda Architects

Building Case Studies

Canopy was made up of more than 17,000 bottles were collected from the citizen. Surrounded by increased pollution every, the sculputure can also be seen as a reminder for creating awareness to recycle plastic waste.

Messe Basel New Hall, Herzog & De Meuron

Building Case Studies

Homogeneous material (aluminum) is the over all exterior surfaces. The facade of articulated twisting bands strategically modulates and reduces the scale of the large exhibition volumes to its surroundings.

Kulturbau And Mall, Benthem Crouwel Architects

Building Case Studies

The volume has an double façade with a Structural-Glazing construction of white silk-screened glass, which embraces the building like a second skin.

Bapagrama Stone House, Pragrup

Building Case Studies

The strong straight lines of stone emerge into a homogenity that harmonizes with the surroundings. stone slabs spanning 14 ft in height, 2 ft in width, and 4" thick protect the wall from the storms and humid climate.

Kanagawa Institute Of Technology Workshop, Junya Ishigami And Associates

Building Case Studies

The floor-to-ceiling glass makes the building appear weightless and elegant, and the open plan preserves the building’s sense of transparency as the viewer’s eye can shoot directly across the uninterrupted space.

Vertical Glass House, Atelier Fcjz

Building Case Studies

All the floor slabs for the Vertical Glass House, which consists of 7cm thick composite tempered glass slabs, cantilevers beyond the concrete shell through the horizontal slivers on the façade. The perimeter of each glass slab is lit from within the house; therefore, light transmits through the glass at night to give a sense of mystic for the pedestrians passing by.

Jianamani Visitor Centre, Atelier Teamminus

Building Case Studies

The Janamani Visitor Center is mainly built by local construction techniques. The stone masonry is done by local masons, using the same kind of local rock from which Mani stones are carved. The railings around the roof terrace and the observation decks are made of wood, with some parts recycled from earthquake debris.

Seasonless House, Casos De Casas, Irene Castrillo Carreira, Mauro Gil-Fournier Esquerra

Building Case Studies

double walls made from cellular polycarbonate, simple filters of undulated polycarbonate, interlocked metallic tiles, different glasses according to the contiguity of the climate on either of its sides.

Cidade Das Artes, Christian De Portzamparc

Building Case Studies

Between the two horizontal plates of the roof and the terrace are set the large curved concrete walls that contain the halls in an interplay of volumes and voids.

The Glass Farm, Mvrdv

Building Case Studies

The exterior glass has an image of a collage of hitsoric farms printed on it. The architects used a fritted procedure to apply the image onto the the glass. There is varying transparency throughout the building, responding to views and necessary light.

Arcus Center For Social Justice Leadership, Studio Gang Architects

Building Case Studies

Properties of material: The gently curving walls connecting these façades are constructed with wood masonry – a regional, traditional building method that incorporates local, sustainably harvested white cedar. This is the first instance that this building technique, which is both low-carbon and highly insulating,

Blue Planet Aquarium, 3xn

Building Case Studies

Material of interest and material used: Aluminum plates

Properties of material: Durable, and after renovation the Blue Planet will be one of Denmark’s five most prominent tourist attractions.

Health Sciences Building, Co Architects, Ayers Saint Gross Architects

Building Case Studies

Copper panels were folded, bent, and cut to provide a visually striking façade which connect with the desert landscape

Finnish Larch Home, Djuric Tardio Architectes

Building Case Studies

Finnish Larch is a high quality wood, durable with waterproof qualities, as well as a smooth and knot-free surface.