FOCUS
Center of Building
Engineeering
Warsaw, Poland - 1
Filtrowa str.
Technical facade's
design - 1999-2000, winner oftwo prestigious Polish architectural
awards.
Architectural design made by APA Kurylowicz.
Facade design
and consultation Technical Bureau Tuscher.
Cost of facade $5.6M, Total cost
$86M,
Gross area 61,994 m2, Cubature 243,500 m3.
High-tech
cube-shaped administration building separated with internal courtyard.
There
are eight facades in total, four inner and four outer, each designed in a generally
different style from another.
.
This is
the first "double-skin" facade ever built in Poland.
Other facades are covered with aluminium composite, steel and stone cladding. The low, flat skylight covers the interior courtyard in the center of the building. A gigantic airfoil wing, veneered with aluminium sheathing and dotted with decorative nuts, dominates over the south facade (visible on the photo below). Like in the case of other high-tech appurtenances of this facade, its function is purely decorative.
Example of a typical challenge:
We could not find a producer of aluminum systems that would agree to provide sufficient warranty for inwardly tilted sliding doors designed in steeply pitched exterior wall 45 meters (150 ft) above ground. Air and water leakage were expected due to the tilted orientation and the
design pressure of wind driven rain at this altitude.
As a solution, we
designed a custom system of waterproofing and drainage of aluminum sliding door
frame profiles, which alleviated the worries.
Materials :stone - granite, aluminium, zinc coated steel, stainless steel, and glass.
The in-house cranes (window washing rigs) riding on rails located along the roof
perimeter provide easy access to outer facades for routine maintenance
and conservation.Washing and maintenance of courtyard's glass roof
is achieved by a horizontal gantry rolling on rails underneath the
skylight.
PHOTOS
south facade from bird's eye-click
on image for better resolution
south facade from car-click on image
for better resolution(photo by courtessy of
Mr.Darecky)
PUBLICATIONS
Pages from Polish "Architecture" nr 3 '2001 magazine -click
on images for magnification
Last modification 02.27.2005