Why We Still Need Architects to Design Facades?
Why do we still need architects to design facades, as opposed to engineers, or perhaps by public referendum?
Because otherwise facades would look like this one shown below (one of millions of almost identical buildings built behind the iron curtain by headless bureaucrats, and this particular one is located in Warsaw, Poland). Growing in a landscape like this, people are bound to be depressed, which explains why Poles have such sad faces:
Thankfully, modern architects with their right-brain awkwardness and mediocre salaries, still are allowed to make a difference, as illustrated by these pictures of façade design below:
01. Aqua Tower(Chicago, US)
01. Device to Root Out Evil (Vancouver, Canada)
This is one of many upside-down buildings, which function mainly as a local tourist attraction. We show only two examples here for consistency and comparison with similar concepts.
02. The Crooked House (Sopot, Poland)
03. Museum of Contemporary Art (Niteroi, Brazil)
04. ING Headquarters (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
05. Experience Music Project (Seattle, Washington, USA)
06. Dancing Building (Prague, Czech Republic)
07. Druzhba Holiday Center (Yalta, Ukraine)
08. Lotus Temple (Delhi, India)
09. Forest Spiral Building (Darmstadt, Germany)
10. The Torre Galatea Figueras (Spain)
11. Upside Down House (Szymbark, Poland)
This is one of many upside-down buildings, which function mainly as a local tourist attraction. We show only two examples here for consistency and comparison with similar concepts.
12. The Basket Building (Ohio, USA)
13. The Ufo House (Sanjhih, Taiwan)
14. Stone House (FAFE, Portugal)
15. Kansas City Public Library (Missouri, USA)
16. Stata Center (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)
17. The Hole House (Texas, USA)
18. Ryugyong Hotel (Pyongyang, North Korea)
19. Container City (London, UK)
20. Erwin Wurm: House Attack (Viena, Austria)
21. Solar Furnace (Odeillo, France)
22. Nakagin Capsule Tower (Tokyo, Japan)
23. Beijing National Stadium (Beijing, China)
24. CCTV Tower – China Central Television Headquarters (Beijing, China)
25. The Egg (Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York, USA)
26. Ripley’s Building (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada)
27. Ripley’s Believe It or Not! (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada)
28. Fuji television building (Tokyo, Japan)
29. Olympic Stadium (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
30. Blur Building (Yverdon-les-Bainz, Switzerland)
31. The Puerta de Europa towers (Madrid, Spain)
32. Gas Natural headquarters (Barcelona, Spain)
33. Wonderworks (Pigeon Forge, TN, USA)
34. Habitat 67 (Montreal, Canada)
35. Manchester Civil Justice Centre (Manchester, UK)
36. Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles, California, USA)
37. Shoe House (Pennsylvania, USA)
38. The National Library (Minsk, Belarus)
39. Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao, Spain)
40. Air Force Academy Chapel (Colorado, USA)
41. Fashion Show Mall (Las Vegas, USA)
42. Edificio Mirador (Madrid, Spain)
43. Luxor Hotel & Casino (Las Vegas, USA)
44. Grand Lisboa (Macau, China)
45. Dome House (Florida, USA)
46. Gherkin Building (London, UK)
47. Tempe Municipal Building (Tempe, Arizona, USA)
48. National Architects Union Headquarters (Romania)
49. Cubic Houses (Rotterdam, Netherlands)
50. Nord LB building (Hannover, Germany)
51. Turning Torso (Malmö, Sweden)
52. Lloyd’s building (London, UK)
53. Wozoco Apartments (Amsterdam, Holland)
54. UCSD Geisel Library (San Diego, California, USA)
55. Chapel in the Rock (Arizona, USA)
56. Atomium (Brussels, Belgium)
57. Great arche of defense (Paris, France)
58. Ferdinand Cheval Palace (France)
59. Cathedral of Brasilia (Brazil)
60. Errante Guest House (Chile)
61. The Museum of Play (Rochester , USA)
62. Jumeirah Emirates Towers (Dubai, UAE)
63. Burj al Arab (Dubai, UAE)
64. Raffles Dubai in Wafi city (Dubai, UAE)
65. National centre for the performing arts (Beijing, China)
66. Digital Beijing (Beijing, China)
67. Water Cube (Beijing, China)
68. Atlantis (Dubai, UAE)
69. Nordpark Cable Railway (Innsbruck, Austria)
70. The Valencia Opera House (Valencia, Spain)
71. Water Tower (Zaragoza)
72. Pabellon de Aragon (Zaragoza)
73. Eden project (United Kingdom)
74. Royal Ontario Museum Expansion (Toronto, Canada)
75. John Curtin School of Medical Research (Australia)
76. Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Nice, France)
77. Kunsthaus (Graz, Austria)
78. State Department for Traffic (Tbilis, Georgia)
79. Tenerife Concert Hall (Canary Islands, Spain)
80. Berlin Zeiss Planetarium (Berlin, Germany)
81. Montreal Biosphère (Canada)
82. Esplanade Theatres, Singapore
83. La Pedrera (Barcelona, Spain)
84. National Congress Building (Brazil)
85. Hongkong City Landscape
86. GT Tower East(Seoul, South Korea)
City Landscapes – unknown location, photo by Jillian (Rose Petals):
“Moot in Session” – unknown location, photo by Jen K (Ether):
The ‘Waldspirale’ (Forest Spiral) in Darmstadt, Germany by artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
Robot Building in Bangkok, Thailand, by Sumet Jumsai
ТК “Штрих Код” – (barcode) – St. Petersburg, Russia
Reversible Destiny Lofts – Mitaka, Japan
Elephant Building – Bangkok, Thailand
The elephant is an extremely important animal in Thailand, as it represents royal power. Since it’s used ubiquitously in Thai art, it only makes sense that there would be a building fashioned in the likeness of an elephant. This particular elephant is 335 feet high.
Urban Cactus High Rise – Amsterdam, Netherlands
VM Apartments – Copenhagen, Denmark
These apartments are designed in V and M shapes (hence their clever name) and the extra pointy bits allow for each resident to have daylight, privacy, and a view.
MVRDV Stackable High Rise – Rødovre, Copenhagen
Suite Vollard – Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
360-degree rotating apartment complex in Brazil.
Burj Al Fateh Hotel, in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan
Piano Building in Anhui province of China
Cybertecture Egg Building in Mumbai, India.
Solar Ark Building in Japan
Calakmul Building aka La Lavadora aka The washing-Machine, Mexico
Hotel Queen Elizabeth in Montreal, Quebec
Expo Zaragoza 2008, Pabellón de Aragón, Spain
Botanical Garden (Jardin Botanico) in Medellin, Colombia :: Plan B Arquitectos and JPRCR Arquitectos
De Young Museum :: Herzog & de Meuron. Basel, San Francisco
Empire Island Tower, Abu Dhabi : Aedas
Bahrain World Trade Center – Manama, Bahrain : Atkins 2008
Botta-Wellness Center ‘Tschuggen Bergoase’. Arosa, Switzerland. 2006
Bitexco Financial Tower in Vietnam : Carlos Zapata Studio, 2010
Office Complex An der Alster 1, Hamburg, Germany
La-Salle College of the Arts, Rochor, Singapore
Kilden theatre and concert hall – Kristiansand, Norway
Tokyo Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower, Tokyo, Japan by Tange Associates
Insituto Tomie Ohtake, Saolo Paulo, Brazil
Selfridges Building in Birmingham, England via David Fergus Photography
Hyatt Capital Gate Hotel (ADNEC) – Hyatt Abu Dhabi
Wat Samphran Temple in Bangkok
Hotel la Montana Magica in Chile
Ann Demeulemeester Shop in Seoul’s Gangnam District, South Korea
The Nautilus House in Mexico City, Mexico
Treehouse Restaurant in Okinawa, Japan
Stone House in Portugal
727 Fuselage Home in Costa Rica
Overall Idea Credit
Thermal Engineering in Building Envelope Design
3D Thermal Modeling
Condensation Risk Assessment
Facade Access
Facade Engineering. How To Design a Functional Building Enclosure
Facade Impact Resistance Manual
Foggy Glass Disease
How To Write and Read a Forensic Report
In Support of Glazed Curtain Walls
Movements and Tolerances
Review of Curtain Walls, Focusing on Design Problems and Solutions
Transitions: How to Design Facade Interfaces
When You Need A Window – Solar Design
Curtain walls
Façade Engineering With Glass
Hot and Humid Climate and Hurricane considerations in Building Enclosure Design
Principles of Facade Design
Sloped glazing
Storefronts