About
Asian Art Museum Front Elevation
Description
The façade of a building is a threshold that is increasingly becoming the epicenter of advanced architectural design, analysis, and fabrication. Hemmed in by multiple layers of constraints imposed by zoning, building codes, space-planning consultants, and others, the architect has rediscovered the building’s skin as a site for the development of innovative architectural strategies and material explorations. More than just a superficial casing, contemporary building skins integrate a vast array of performance criteria into one synthetic whole. From structural skins to responsive facades that modulate internal light, air, and temperature, the contemporary façade is a complex material system.
This studio will investigate this topic in two ways. First, the studio will explore the use of lightweight composite façade panels. A relatively new material for facades, composite panels offer many benefits over traditional materials. From their high strength-to-weight ratio to their impressive sustainability properties, composites are high-performance systems able to conform to a wide array of geometries.
The studio will use this geometric flexibility to explore the history and future of panelized systems. Starting from the elaborately tessellated facades of Islamic architecture, the studio will investigate how advanced digital technologies such as parametric modeling and digital fabrication can be leveraged to facilitate the design of complex building skins.
Site/Program
Using a proposed addition to the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco as the venue for this investigation, the studio will first analyze the existing museum’s building, program, and site. Built in 1913, the impressive Beaux Arts structure was originally used as the city’s central public library. Renovated in 2003 for the Asian Art Museum, the renovation’s last phase was never completed, leaving the northeast corner unfinished and the building’s ring-like plan incomplete. The studio will explore how to complete this ring while also making proposals for the ring’s interior courtyard/atrium.
The site and program offer many interesting dualities:
- Heavy / Light (stone / composite)
- Dark / Light (Low-light interior displays / naturally lit circulation)
- Old / New (existing / addition, artifacts / contemporary)
- West / East (western building / eastern art)
- Public / Private (city/visitor space / back-of-house museum space)
- Earth / Sky (massive stone embed in landscape / lightweight addition over service entrance)
Technology
The studio will utilize both parametric modeling and digital fabrication to design, analysis, and fabricate the design and prototypes. Focusing on tools such Grasshopper, Rhinoscript, and Paneling Tools, students will quickly explore various tessellation schemes. These schemes will be tested for environmental, structural, and fabrication issues prior to the final full-scale prototyping of a section of the façade.
Partners
The studio is very fortunate to have three great partners on the project:
Kreysler & Associates
A digital fabrication and composite structures studio and workshop in American Canyon, the experts at Kreysler will help students with the design and fabrication of their design prototypes.
FRONT inc.
Jeff Kock and his team at FRONT are experts the design of complex, high performance facades. Design consultants on many of the most famous buildings of the last 10 years (Seattle Public Library, Walker Art Center, etc.), FRONT will act as consultants on the design and detailing of the composite façade panels.
SHoP
Konrad Graser from SHoP’s new west coast office will also act as a consultant for students in the design and detailing of their building and façade design. SHoP, one of the most innovative design practices working today, has designed many complex facades including the Porter House and Mulberry Building in New York City.