Fully transparent, glass buildings, which have been a staple of central business districts from Budapest to Tokyo, are, in my opinion, slowly but surely going away.

Different pieces of the city can be created using different shapes and materials, and so too can each façade piece
Different pieces of the city can be created using different shapes and materials, and so too can each façade piece.

There are two main reasons for this.

Complex buildings require more complex surface façades
Image courtesy of Via Vika, Oslo, Norway

Complex buildings require more complex surface façades, which are now possible thanks to advanced assembly and installation technologies.

First, there is the need to achieve high sustainability. High-performance glazing alone cannot satisfy this need, which is resulting in a wider variety of materials becoming available for opaque or shaded façades. And these materials can architecturally link the building to its context.

Secondly, increasingly advanced prefabrication capabilities, unitised systems such as shop-fabricated city pixels, and the use of the most advanced assembly technologies are all making it easier to bring articulated glazed and opaque elements to both tall buildings and to buildings with complex shapes.

Glass will continue to play an important role in façades, but more from a qualitative than a quantitative point of view. What I mean by this is that it will have to relate to the opaque in the increasingly delicate and complex task of mediating between internal and external spaces.

New Opportunities for Architects and Façade Designers

The Quality Hotel™ Ramsalt in Bodø, Norway
Image courtesy of Brick Visual

The Quality Hotel™ Ramsalt in Bodø, Norway, illustrates the way the curtain wall is becoming an architectural element again

We could see these trends as limitations on our expression. But in fact, the move towards opaque façades is opening up new aesthetic opportunities for architects and designers, and heralding a return to buildings that better reflect the history and character of a district or city.

The curtain wall is thus becoming once again an architectural element. It not only meets the energy requirements of the building it covers but also looks outwards towards the squares and streets it surrounds. Through the materials and forms used, this create a link between the full and empty spaces that are arranged around a new type of Renaissance square. Curtain walls become a crucial architectural element in the squares new developments are creating.

In addition, the façade outlined in this way can also be increasingly used as a tool for providing psycho-physiological comfort to the users of public places, as it can affect the levels of acoustic light or ventilation in these places.

Why does sustainability (and regulations) require a shift to partially opaque façades?

Targeting a BREEM Excellent rating, the Via Vika building in Olso, Norway
Targeting a BREEM Excellent rating

The Via Vika building in Olso, Norway, indicates how opaque façades can enhance sustainability while simultaneously creating a unique new pixel for a city

The drive for sustainability is based on an expectation coming from society – including future tenants – for zero-emission buildings (and for less anonymous buildings). Furthermore, in a lot of regions, this energy efficiency is no longer a nice option to include – it is a necessity. Regulations in many countries, including across the EU, are pushing developers to abandon all-glass buildings and turn to partially opaque façades instead

The ambitions for a building’s sustainability have never been higher. Whereas in the past we might have looked to construct buildings that have a low environmental impact, now the target is zero.

And this doesn’t just mean zero impact when the building is functioning. It also means near-zero emissions during the construction of the building. The materials that are used, the fabrication processes, the construction – everything will have to be done with the aim of having no negative impact on the environment.

 

A façade element being installed by Staticus on the Quality Hotel™ Ramsalt in Bodø, Norway, Universitetsgaten 7, Oslo, Norway
Image courtesy of Brick Visual

A façade element being installed by Staticus on the Quality Hotel™ Ramsalt in Bodø, Norway, Universitetsgaten 7, Oslo, Norway

Of course, given the environmental issues our world now faces, this move is necessary. But even if you don’t think so, the new regulations in place mean you have to follow these practices anyway. By 2051, the EU regulations will require buildings to have zero emissions during both their construction and their operation – the goal is climate neutrality. These regulations will mean limitations – limitations to both the size and scope of buildings and also to the materials used. It will mean a change to urban landscapes.

Pixels of a City

But limitations are great for creativity.

PRISMA office building in Helsingborg, Sweden
PRISMA office building in Helsingborg, Sweden

In order to limit land consumption, reduce energy losses and optimise energy consumption we will increasingly see two types of building developed.

There will be tall, compact buildings connected with pedestrian bridges, and large buildings that actually cross roads. This means we will have more neighbourhood buildings with complex internal walkable spaces. This in turn will require more complex façades from three different points of view:

  • Energy performance,
  • The variety of materials used,
  • The shapes of the façades themselves.

And so, thanks to the “limits” of sustainability, and also thanks to prefabrication in the workshop, architects are increasingly taking the opportunity to develop an interplay between full and empty volumes, between opaque and glass.

Façade pieces for the Universitetsgaten 7 project being assembled in the Staticus workshop.
Façade pieces for the Universitetsgaten 7 project being assembled in the Staticus workshop.
The design stage of the façade elements for the Prisma office building
The design stage of the façade elements for the Prisma office building

The Via Vika project is highly complex, with 20% of the façade elements curved. This required advanced façade design, prefabrication and installation

They can offer different cuts of light towards the interior, and different views of the outside, even on the same façade. On the other hand, from the outside, such varied façades can increasingly offer a reading of an image composed of individual pieces, of tiles or pixels, like musical notes on a giant pentagram.

Image courtesy of Sauerbruch Hutton
Image courtesy of Sauerbruch Hutton

Located on the edge of a cliff, and utilising 10 different colours in the NCS coloured enabled glass, both the overall design and the façade elements of the Stockholm New project interplay with the surrounding city.

Here are some recent projects by Staticus that illustrate this approach.

The Quality Hotel™ Ramsalt in Bodø, Norway

Opaque Façades Revitalising Cityscapes

Thanks to the drive for sustainability, our cities are becoming more attractive again. That’s because they are increasingly made up of buildings with façades that have multiple aesthetic qualities. To private spaces, they offer varied shapes of light and unique views, and to the city, they offer new perspectives to read and interpret.

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