A façade is the exterior wall or face of a building. It is one of the most integral pieces from a design viewpoint as it adds a unique personality and character to the overall building. A building is visualized and remembered by the way it looks therefore, façade design plays a very important role in architecture. It allows the architect to experiment and bring his creations to life. A meticulously designed façade can make a building work more efficiently for the owners, occupants, and the environment. Façade acts like an interface
between the interior and exterior environments.
1. Krushi Bhawan, Odisha
Krushi Bhawan, designed by Studio Lotus, is a government facility that re-imagines the relationship between the State and its People. It celebrates local context, craftsmanship, and sustainability as a vile part of social infrastructure. The façade consists of a brick-louvered screen expressing itself in the pattern of local weaves, its colors representing the local diversity of the region which acts as a solar shading device.
2. 72 Screens, Jaipur
72 Screens, designed by Sanjay Puri Architects, is a sculptural 6-level office building enveloped in folded plates of perforated screens or Jaali. It reflects the rich Rajasthan heritage designed to cater to the blistering heat of Jaipur. These lightweight screens are made of Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete, sometimes called GFRC or GRC, an interesting composite having high strength alkali-resistant glass fiber embedded in a cementitious mix.
3. Hexalace, Mohali
Hexalace, designed by Studio Ardete, is an open-plan commercial building made primarily for leasing purposes. Due to the occurrence of extreme heat, the architects created a 3-inch thick semi-permeable concrete layer with hexagonal cut-out sections, that is used as a shading element. Hexagonal metal frames are horizontally layered on the concrete which doubles up as a balcony fence. The main curtain wall has been recessed to leave pockets of air between the screen and the main building to subsequently reduce heat gain.
4. Temenos, New Delhi
Temenos, designed by Studio Lotus, is a new-age commercial complex in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar. It is designed to become a ‘jewel’ in the city-skyline. The façade is inspired by origami-folds, a double-skin of perforated aluminum panels rendered in rich champagne color. The perforations have been carefully calibrated to cut-out solar glare and dampen external noise to create a tranquil indoor user-experience.
5. Hive House, Surat
Hive House, designed by Openideas Architects, is conceived as an intelligent and sustainable family home. The form of the house is inspired by the profession of the client who is engaged in the production of machinery for the diamond industry. The geometry of the solar-sensor based façade is influenced by hexagonal structural patterns found in nature.
6. KMC Corporate Office, Hyderabad
KMC Corporate Office, designed by RMA, is a corporate building that employs the idea of a double skin as not only a visually dynamic façade but also a screen that humidifies the air entering the building which creates evaporative cooling for the interiors. The inner layer is a reinforced concrete frame with aluminum windows and the outer layer comprises a custom cast aluminum trellis with hydroponic trays and drip irrigation, integrated for growing a variety of plant species.
7. Pearl Academy of Fashion, Jaipur
The Pearl Academy of Fashion, designed by Morphogenesis, is a modern adaptation of traditional Indo- Islamic architectural elements and passive-cooling design strategies. A double-skin Jaali acts as a thermal buffer between the building and the surroundings. The density of the perforated outer skin has been determined through computational shadow analysis based on the orientation of the facades. The outer skin is placed 4 feet away from the building to control direct heat gain through fenestrations.
8. The Street, Mathura
The Street, designed by Sanjay Puri Architects, is an 800-foot student housing complex on the campus of GLA University in Mathura. The orientation of all the buildings is done with the aim of generating large north facing garden areas that overlook a vast playground. Each room has a unique wedge-shaped bay window oriented towards the north minimizing the heat gain in response to the climate, creating a separate identity for each.
9. Cybertecture Egg, Mumbai
Cybertecture Egg, designed by James Law Cybertecture International, is a 13-floor office building unlike any other. This parametrically designed building brings together iconic architecture, environmental design, intelligent systems, and new engineering to create an awe-inspiring landmark for the city. An innovative column-less steel diagrid shell structure incorporated with passive solar design to decrease heat gain and lower energy loads cool the building envelope. An elevated garden also moderates temperatures to assist
with cooling.
10. Moving Landscapes, Ahmedabad
Moving Landscapes, designed by Matharoo Associates, is a house built for a successful real-estate developer and his family. With the touch of a button, this house transforms itself from an "impregnable shell" into a glass pavilion, allowing occupants to vary the amount of light, ventilation, and privacy in their home. Sliding and spinning walls animate the façade of this house. 1’6” mm thick Bidaser stone panels pivot in
alternate directions or back and forth in some areas to protect the inner layer of glass and concrete.
