skin deep materiality

With emergent digital technologies becoming more prevalent in contemporary architecture, few parts of a building remain untouched in some way. Often, the facade and skin treatment of a building are the most obvious expression of new processes and technologies. The majority of advanced facade systems rely heavily upon complex computing and modeling systems that are now utilised by architects and engineers.

LAB’s Federation Square, Melbourne 2002, clearly demonstrates its use of highly advanced systems of design and documentation. One of LAB’s directors, Donald Bates, is a graduate of the AA and spent many years working for Daniel Libeskind, whose influence is clearly evident in the internal spaces of the building.
It’s exterior is clad in a unique system of triangular zinc, glass and sandstone tiles, arranged in a highly complex manner based around a pin-wheel fractal. This system allows the facade to move and adjust freely around obstructions and service areas. As additional tile panels are added, the new sections blend seamlessly into the facade, maintaining an intrinsic coherence through its fractal expression.

The Seattle Public Library, OMA 2004, uses it’s angular facade to express the internal program of the building creating a stunning visual icon for the aging library. The Glass facade is pushed, cut and re-located as it wraps around the floating floors within. The detailed expression of the facade is quite simple, a repeating glass diamond framed in metal, but it’s transparency reveals its true genius.
In order to create such a demanding shape, highly technical computer modeling and testing systems were utilised in order maximise the efficiency of the structure. ARUP, the buildings engineers, ensured that structural elements were only placed exactly where needed using advanced computer analysis packages. The evolution of OMA’s work is quite obvious in their CCTV building in Beijing, currently under construction.

When it comes to advancing the materiality of a building, few do it consistently as well as Herzog & de Meuron. Many of their projects demonstrate a new form of expression in its materiality; the translucent plastic façade of the Laban Dance Centre (London, 2003), the inflated ETFE bubbles of the Allianz Arena (Munich, 2005), and the double glazed bulging diamonds of Prada Tokyo (2003). Their most advanced expression of materiality is, however, in the currently under-construction Beijing Olympic Stadium (2008, we hope). In collaboration with Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, HdeM have created a birds nest of steel that wraps over itself providing the structural system and external skin of the stadium. The final result would never have been possible without the close collaboration between architect, artist and engineer, in additional to the utilisation of high level computer modelling software.

As more architects embrace digital technologies new possibilities in material expression are created. The adaptation of existing technologies, invention of new materials and the creation of complex system have created an environment for architectural materiality to be re-born.