Facades – Oro Editions – Publishers of Architecture, Art, and Design

Architecture

Facades

“Intelligent, high-performance, forward-looking designs that exhibit timeless and enduring qualities.”

We believe that architecture has a unique power to influence our world. As architects, we must recognize and respect our role in shaping civic life. We strive to create designs that aid society, advance technology, sustain the environment and inspire those around us to improve our world.

We strive to create intelligent, high-performance, forward-looking designs that exhibit timeless and enduring qualities.

We embrace a holistic approach to design. We believe that the future of architecture relies not on a changing aesthetic but on the implementation of an integrated process, predicated on an equal understanding and consideration of each project discipline.

We prize innovation and experimentation. We are not limited by known solutions. We utilize our experience and knowledge to move forward and develop new methods and technologies.

We support our clients in the realization of their visions, while delivering the highest standard of design in the international practice of architecture.

We foster a challenging and rewarding workspace. We understand that the encouragement and development of each member of our staff advances the practice of architecture.

We collaborate with the world's leading experts: scientists, artists, sociologists, philosophers and thinkers. We strive to expand our perspective and generate new discoveries and insights into the world of design.

"Our Philosophy" Adrian Simth + Gordon Gill Arcitects

“Architects also have expertise in a range of building types, including supertall towers, large-scale mixed-use complexes, corporate offices, exhibition facilities, cultural facilities and museums.”

Facades: Beauty Utility Performanceillustrates the depth and breadth of the many innovative exterior wall facades that were designed from 2007-2020 at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG). The featured projects, both built and unbuilt, are explored through photographs, renderings, model images, detail drawings, narratives, and illustrations. Each project addresses a series of environmental concerns, offering site-specific, performative solutions and innovative techniques that harvestresources and maximize efficiencies.The performance of a building can be improved through the integration of intelligent systems into their facade. These attributes are accompanied by symbols throughout the book to highlight the concepts where they are applied. With these designations, we explore projects that incorporate specific environmental design concepts into their design. This portfolio represents a wide breadth of strategies that can improve the performance of a building through the intelligent integration of systems in a façade.

These concepts or “themes” are described below and are accompanied by symbols throughout the book, to highlight the concepts where they are applied.

– Façades that control interior or exterior direct sunlight through geometry.
– Daylight specific façades use the sun as their most important resource to capture light.
– Façades that utilize solar harnessing technologies, such as photovoltaic panels, to generate electricity for building use.
– Thermal mass is the concept of using building elements to absorb, store, and release heat energy as temperatures fluctuate.
– Façades that incorporate operable components to introduce natural ventilation into the space.
– Façades that harness wind power into electricity through building integrated wind turbines.
– Façades are intelligent when they are designed to communicate with the Building Management System (BMS) and can modify their base responses to react to changing weather or other predefined forms of stimulations.
– Luminous façades incorporate light or projection fixtures as an integral part of their design to create interest and a dynamic effect.
– Modular facades have complex geometries that have been modified to simplify the number of different panels or parts in the system.