At the Next Facade Summit on 24 June 2021, four renowned architects gave exciting insights into the design process, the planning and realisation of building envelopes for construction projects all over the world, and the implementation of the facades.
What was behind the futuristic concepts of the speakers at the Next Facade Summit?
"Visionary Architecture" was the title of Tobias Walliser's presentation. The co-founder of the "Laboratory for Visionary Architecture" (LAVA) and professor of architecture and innovative building and spatial concepts at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart first illustrated the philosophy of the renowned firm: "More with less", for example, means achieving the best possible result for the client with the least possible use of natural resources. LAVA's working method is also characteristic.
According to Tobias Walliser, the company relies on a detailed inventory and analysis, a consistent digital workflow and the latest (production) technologies, while constantly being inspired by nature. The architect described exactly what this looks like in practice, using LIFE Hamburg as an example - an innovative energy-autonomous campus for lifelong and self-determined learning.
Tobias Walliser also showed visionary projects such as the energy and future storage facility in Heidelberg or the German Pavilion at EXPO 2020 in Dubai. Here, LAVA designed a particularly sustainable vertical ensemble of building sections that is framed by a common structure - a creative and visionary design.
Recycled aluminium from Wicona for high-rise facades
Andreas Moser shed light on the "hybrid concept" of One Forty West in Frankfurt designed by Cyrus Moser. The high-rise catches the eye directly with its balconies all around and is characterised by a mixed use with premium flats, hotel and gastronomy - short distances and flexible structures promote people's interaction and quality of life.
See also: Interview with R. Seufert & W. Jager from Wicona
Another one of the firm’s outstanding projects is Ninty-Nine West - also known as the Senckenberg Tower - which is still under construction in the immediate vicinity. One of the special features here: Thanks to the use of recycled aluminium from Wicona on the facade, more than 2600t of CO2 could be saved.
The building envelope for the northernmost town hall in Sweden
"Architecture is essentially the staging of human interaction" - this was Louis Becker's credo. What the Global Design Principle of the internationally active firm Henning Larsen Architects understands by "Creating Places", he explained in his lecture using numerous impressive project examples from different climatic zones.
Be that the new town hall in Kiruna - the northernmost city in Sweden -, the future quarter Wolfsburg Connect in the Volkswagen City or the creative realisation of the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane: For each of the building projects, the team of Henning Larsen Architects developed a building design and utilisation concept that was precisely tailored to the local conditions with "people at the centre" - always based on a detailed analysis of the user requirements. Louis Becker: "Architecture must speak directly to the users and give something back to the society in which it was built."
