urban facade renovation

[lavardera]

It is funny how sometimes doing a good job on one kind of project will lead to more similar work. I am in the midst of a string of "facade jobs" reinventing old, worn, or just plain ugly buildings. I have been posting them here but as of today the posts were lost with the july05 hacker attack. I thought about spending the time to dredge them up out of the Google cache but I'd rather look forward and just post new things.

So here we are. This is the existing building, owned by a non-profit social service agency, they have a tenant on the ground floor which is the bank. The bank has prominent signs which gives most people the impression that the building is the banks, and the owners signs are unsuccessful and drop into the background.

The building itself is composed of 3 pre-existing buildings that were combined into one larger structure and the facade re-clad in this sorry curtain wall during the 1960s. Stuff like this gives modern design a bad name. There are precast concrete panels at the street level, and aluminum framing and foil faced panels above, all looking very tired and damaged. The "windows" on the upper level were not windows and filled with opague black glass, and all of the existing windows in the building were removed. Dreadful!

SO the goal was to reinvent the facility, give it a more prominent presence on the street, and invert the relationship between the tenant and the owner so that the building's identity belongs to the owner and not the bank.

[lavardera]

I mocked up the existing building early on. Initially the understanding was there was little to be spent on this so we were going to do what we could with paint, but government funders were willing to support a greater effort so we began to study how to approach it.

[lavardera]

I began with the assumption that the upper half of the building would be reclad and the concrete panels below would stay. I was inspired by the owners multi purposed use of the building reflecting the many pronged social services they provide and looked for a textile or basket weave pattern that would comment on the weaving of uses.

[lavardera]

this led to this rough sketch of a new treatment for the upper level

[lavardera]

feedback at this point was two pronged. First the owner and their staff related that they really disliked the existing concrete panels and if possible could we get rid of them. On top of this was a desire to see what the original building looked like, and if salvageable could the building be restored after the existing facade was removed.

Since there is no way to know what it looks like under there - there were no historic photos available - the only way to find out would be to remove the existing facade and see what was behind. To that end we needed a new scheme unless the original was completely spoiled, and so that scheme needed to encompass the whole facade.

I made an attempt to extend the "woven" treatment over the entire facade but it was not successful.

[lavardera]

Part of the problem was try as we might with texture the one story portion of the building at the rear which is the owners entrance felt remote and detached from the two story building. At this point we had decided to re-open the existing windows to gain back air and light into the second floor window openings. The ground floor unfortunately had no traces of the original windows.

[lavardera]

At this point if you remember I had posted a request here on PPB for images of Latino street scenes. The response here was fantastic, and I thank the many PPB members who posted images and links. This request grew out of discussions with the owner about how to capture the lively street life of the cities in the countries where many of their employees and clientele were from. There was a desire for color, and ironwork. So without being overly literal in mocking a latin american colonial building we decided to try and address this using the same material palette of corrugated metal siding we had been using cost effectively on other projects and had been proposing for this one as well. I also wanted to deal with that 1 story entrance area and draw it into the building and make its liability into an asset.

[lavardera]

Using off the shelf colors offered by the siding manuafacturer we went for a bright polychromatic scheme. We have broken the building down into sections whose scale more closely reflects row houses on either side of the building. But at the same time we used an overall color scheme that ties the whole together with a super scaled pattern.

[lavardera]

Signs were reintroduced and scaled to invert the hierarchy with the tenant. This is still preliminary as it will require a special approval by the city.

[lavardera]

And so this is where it stands now. The scope of work has creeped up and of course the budget is a concern.

[lavardera]

And of course SU played a big role in preparing the construction drawings for this project as well. Elevation drawings were created with a combination of vector linework export, and a lineless shaded image for the background.

[lavardera]

And the structural documentation for the extension of the cornice at the one story area was also done in SU. My examples of 3d documentation have been popular here before so I thought it was worthwhile showing this as well.

[lavardera]

Don't be deceived - this stuff goes together very quickly in SU. Much faster than struggling through 2d views of each of these connections. And the plan that accompanied the 3d views was an export from SU as well.

[trogers]

impressive documentation of your sequence of design. thanks for tying in to the latino thread.

also, as I'm sure you've already heard from everyone else, you create very nicely detailed documents...i think every CD set should have more 3d examples.

tr

[Juan Gomez-Velez]

Greg

Your rendition of the facade is fresh, lighthearted and cheerful, all in all, very, very good. You've captured and reinterpreted the spirit of many latin american tectonic traditions in an deft, clean and engaging way.

This building seems to be an original, that is to say that it seems to be a building that has always had these proportions and openings, and that was only recently spruced up. It would seem to smile and wink at you, as if letting you in onto its secret and you can't bring yourself to do anything other than smile right back at it.

Great work, thoughtful and charming.

Applause, accolades and admiration, all yours by right.

Saludos

Juan

[urbanprotagonist]

ill echo what juan has mentioned-- this is really a very sympathetic and refreshing design. ill have to admit though, as i was following along from
the first post, when i heard your client was eager in exploring the historical nature of the building i was very skeptical. your approach and reinterpretation of latin themes is very inspiring.
i am curious to how the mtl panel in its composition and color will feel in real life. and wonder if it may appear wallpaper-ish- in a bad way. (by bad, i mean cheap/temporary looking)
thanks for posting the few cd sheets as well. do you always plot in color for the contractor ?? any issues with this method in the past and having b&w copies made that might not read greyscale?? just curious.
great work..

[Bastian]

Hey there Lavardera, this is a very interesting work and it seems to be shaping quite well.

The 3D details are inspiring and they are surely a lot more easier to understand than the usual 2D details. My only question is how did you make the screws and bolts? Did you made them from scratch?

If you had another small project like this one would you try to model new 3D components (if necessary) to make the details?

[lavardera]

Juan, thank you - you are the PPB poet.

urban, I think the metal siding will feel wallpaperish, but I think in a good way. The pale yellow siding is set to run horizontal, and the blue and brick red on the vertical, the window trim is actually exposed galvanized, and there is more detail than evident in these renderings - elements of trim and flashings where the siding meets, so the reference to colonial architecture is very transient and depends on your proximity to the building. I believe that up close it will just feel like a modern treatment, and from across the street the iconography will read more prominently. I'll see if it plays out like that or not.

As far as plotting, I give the owner and reviewing agencys color plots. The builder gets one color set, and repros are in b&w - I make up a b&w set for the repro shop that drops the color fill. If not it just gets too dense as you fear.

Bastian - I got the bolt off of the @last message board a long time ago. I'll post it to the depot here. Its nothing special really but does the job. As far as your other question I've started making these for projects quite often. Making things for the details does not usually take too much time, no longer than doing the same in 2d.

[franjayo]

Greg,

Your design is happy and refreshing, the steel details superb.

I like the use of staggered color panels, overall it is playful and attractive. Definitively a great improvement over the impersonal existing structure. I think the balcony elements are the only detail that may be too literal. Maybe you could consider making them happen only in some windows.

Francisco

[lavardera]

fran - I think you are correct about the ironwork. Perhaps the budget will force us to reduce the number and simplify the design.

[drichards]

I really like your aproach to working drawings and detailing. Simple to read and the intent is clearly defined. There is little room for interpretation of your content. This is fantastic when it comes to construction. I wish my "old school" boss would adopt this style of working drawings. Very clear and concise they are set up for the contractor to succeed.

[greggV]

Greg,

I enjoyed the way you detailed the design process. It's helpful to us students to see the "moves" whenever possible.

To my untrained eye it seems partly like a successful riff on the "californian vernacular", a la Morphosis, et al.

I'm sure that in the Northeastern winter many people will appreciate the warm colors you've used.

good luck,

gjv.

PS. What was that you were saying earlier about Las Vegas and Venturi?

[cacapis]

Wow, now I find the design really close to our folk architecture in Buenos Aires. It's really bad that I didn't come up with this in the original thread, because it looks like it was directly taken from this.

This is Caminito, a small street in the south of Buenos Aires. During the first big inmigration workers set to live in that area in wooden or zinc houses prefabricated in europe, since we had barely any industry. In this particular place people thought that it looked depressing, so they started painting their dwellings with different colors. You get to see a lot of this type of housing in Buenos Aires and in my city near the old commercial ports, but not with this colors.
Now it's one of the most representative landmarks of the city and it's strongly linked to our identity of european descendants and to the history of tango.

[cacapis]

detail of the coloured facade

[cacapis]

another view

[cacapis]

and the last one

[jcruiz]

Good work greg. your proposed facade makes me remember those of the traditional Valparaiso homes, also covered with cowrinkled metal plates.

[jcruiz]

And those balconyes too

[lavardera]

PS. What was that you were saying earlier about Las Vegas and Venturi?

Gregg - you've got me to rights there, but I never said their approach was not useful!

Cacapis - those images are fantastic! If you had showed them to me earlier I may have never reached this solution as it is just too similar.

Jcruiz - you did post those images on the old thread and they definitedly did influence me, no doubt.

[drummond]

What an awful building you had to start off with.As I was going through the images and the development of your idea I too began to see the Buenos Aires locale, which I had visited last year, so I was pleased to see someone had made that same connection.i was very impressed with you 3D construction details.They are a great way of making the contractors job a lot easier.Did you do the whole set of construction documentation in Sketchup?

[jake]

Greg,

Is there anyway to integrate the sign into the building a little better. Morphosis does a lot with supergraphics applies to the sign as just reliefs of the materials already used on the skin. Might be more sculptural approach with the bright colors might be fun.

The bank will be there long-term so changing signage in the future wouldn't be too big an issue, but the tenants upstairs may be problem in the future. Just an idea.

As usual your work looks great. I especially like your details. Every firm in the world should go to a 3d detail!

[cacapis]

What an awful building you had to start off with.As I was going through the images and the development of your idea I too began to see the Buenos Aires locale, which I had visited last year, so I was pleased to see someone had made that same connection.

In general we argentinians try to make people feel like at home, so I hope you enjoyed it here and people treated you well.

Greg you're very right, now there is no way it can take out the legitimacy of your design.

[Richard]

Greg

There are those great details you are famous around here for.

In this refurb we can see again as with you trials for the treatments you favor running through.

I'm with Fran I must say, the balconies add a little too much excess and seemingly over detail the scale of the building.

I just have to add one minor point of concern from my many years doing shop drawing for fabrication on many industrial and sporting facilities, this detail leaves little room for tolerance during erection. I understand you may be looking for some moment resistance in this connection given the lack of longitudinal bracing but the rest of the building would provide some once this false work is clad.

How does one get this horizontal member in with limited tolerance? Might I suggest the top plate be truncated at the column!!!

If you are aiming to utilise moment resistance this may be achieved through extension of the fin plate allowing the addition of a second fixing.

[lavardera]

Jake - I like your notiion of integrating the sign, but yikes - it would be difficult to make that happen. The size of signs is regulated seperately from the facade work. So while the facade requires no special design reveiw, oversize signage will. Intergrating the sign into the facade will defacto throw the entire facade design into the hands of a design review board. I'm not sure I want to go there - I don't have the panache of Tom Mayne.

Drummond - The drawing sheet is done in my 2d cad software, PowerCadd. I'm only bringing in the images from Sketchup.

Richard - your comments on the connection detailing are well taken. I'll see what the fabricators detailer has to say and defer to him.

[ewagner]

greg - all in all, I must say you've worked wonders with such a hopeless building. A few questions though - is there a particular reason why panel joints are always aligned top to bottom, left to right. The existing windows don't appear to be uniformly spaced across the facade. This might argue for offsetting joints a bit from the top row to the bottom row. Right now the panel layout seems a bit stagnant. I like, though, how the corrugations in the panels change directions. Also, I'm not a big fan of the metal railings. Railings indicate the need to guard an opening. The railings are positioned below the windows where there is no opening. Hence, they look completely unfunctional. The vertical lines also compete with the rhythms of the corrugated panels. I'd explore the idea of some solid planting boxes that would act as a counterpoint to the corrugated panels and add some more "push/pull" to the facade :D

[Marr]

"The drawing sheet is done in my 2d cad software, PowerCadd. I'm only bringing in the images from Sketchup."

http://www.engsw.com/Drawings/LaVardera/LaVardera.html

Came across this review of PowerCadd by none other than mr. Greg La Vardera. Hope you don´t mind me posting this Greg?
:)

[lavardera]

Not at all Marr - however the content on that site is nearly 10 years old.

[lavardera]

ewagner - the existing window openings on the second level are spaced unevenly. The spacing of the panel joints is not regular either, but placed to try to create a balance between the uneveness of the windows, and a sense of order from the overall pattern. Given that a more complex pattern could have been developed that off set panel joints, but it would become yet another variable in the mix to balance. I think in this case the more rigid checkerboard and the stability it gives to the entire composition is better for this situation. But you have my mind racing with picturing off sets in that panel grid that would add an interesting twist - I'm going to file that away for another design problem for sure!

[greggV]

Gregg - you've got me to rights there, but I never said their approach was not useful!

Lavadera,

Oh, I don't think I meant to be critical, although it sounds like you've had an insight.

It's just that I only discovered this forum shortly b4 the hack, and I hadn't posted yet, but was thinking about a post you had made about Venturi, et al. and their book "Learning from LV". Maybe it belongs to PPB.v1 forever?

Again, kudos on your design solution and thanks for the documentation.

[davistalexander]

intresting workflow. i have never thought about using sketchup lines in autocad just the other way around. i like you approach to the building, it make it comes alive
thanks for the tip.
davis ;)

[lavardera]

intresting workflow. i have never thought about using sketchup lines in autocad just the other way around. i like you approach to the building, it make it comes alive
thanks for the tip.
davis ;)

My work flow goes back and forth - I rough things out in 2d, and then bring those lines into Sketchup and build the model on top of it, and then after I've put detail into the model I take lines back out of Sketchup and put them back into 2d to do working drawings on top of. It really makes the time invested in adding detail to the model pay off.

[lavardera]

Oh, I don't think I meant to be critical, although it sounds like you've had an insight.

It's just that I only discovered this forum shortly b4 the hack, and I hadn't posted yet, but was thinking about a post you had made about Venturi, et al. and their book "Learning from LV". Maybe it belongs to PPB.v1 forever?

I knew what you were referring to, and if I could remember exactly what I said I would quote it. But my feeling is that Venturi's approach is valid, but they lack discretion about what they choose to set out as a model to follow. This however is definitely a case where I learned a bit from Las Vegas.

[wegofaster]

somtimes skp is faster than cad for 2d, but if i am doing many offsett lines cad is faster... but skechup to cad works very well.

Lav keep up the good work, i enjoy the progression of your projects.

[jbender]

i concur... nice work! i've really enjoyed your projects, especially interesting to see your use of SU for detailing etc.. i have to admit i was inspired by some of your earlier posts on PPB1 and tried to do some steel detailing in SU last week. i just got a little skiddish about what i was doing and reverted to 2d views in ACAD... should've finished it but chickened out. :( maybe next time. you've set a great example of the possibilities of using SU for design AND construction documentation.

[lavardera]

Its interesting to see this come back to life. The work was bid last month and I had a call from one steel shop that was pricing the work. He had a question about the specified galvanizing so I ended up asking him if the details worked well for him. He said that it was very clear and he liked them. It was good to get some kind of positive feedback.

[ryarch]

Nice solution and thanks for sharing the path that you took to get there.

I am a huge fan of corrugated metal siding. It is relatively inexpensive, comes in a bunch of colors and sizes of corrugations, 100% recyclable, and can achieve a great many differing looks depending on how it is used.

I love the nod to latin vernacular architecture. A skilled, clever, and aesthetic solution.

The design is right on! Nice work. Can you post some pics when it get built?

Thanks.

[ypnos1]

Greg
Please accept my congratulations on what seems to be a wonderful project. You have also pushed SU to its natural extension - working drawings. I believe (i hope) 2d CAD will die soon. This kind of presentation brings clarity to the client and the person who will ultimately build it. This is what drawing is for. Thanks for posting your work. Thanks for being so active in this forum along with others.

Nice work
keep of posted
(literally - post more drawings - I intend on doing the same when I get to a good posting point)

Ypnos

[lavardera]

Its not looking very likely that this one is going to happen. Funding is issue one, upcoming redevelopment zone with mandatory design review is issue two. Its also entirely possible that the underlying facade may be in good enough shape to restore/renovate. So its a real long shot right now.

No matter, it was a good design exercise, and I've gotten good feedback on it which I am a grateful for.

[ypnos1]

Greg,

Congratulations on your recent project in DWELL. For the rest of you guys that don't know (or maybe I'm the one who just found out), check out page 97 of the October Issue of DWELL.

Greg - Seems like you have been working and thinking hard and your engagement on the forums and in the architecture community are paying off for you. Congratulations.

Again, I appreciate your posting of drawings and process. Look for my postings of projects in the near future.

Ypnos

[danae77]

Greg,

Congratulations on your recent project in DWELL. For the rest of you guys that don't know (or maybe I'm the one who just found out), check out page 97 of the October Issue of DWELL.

Ypnos


what happens if we don't have access to the magazine???....I'd really want to have a look on that...since from what i've seen this far from lavardera's works they all look very interesting:clap: .....
cheers

[lavardera]

Hey guys, that house and the article see this thread:
http://www.pushpullbar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=440