Stories On Design // Wrapped Buildings.

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Well, well. What have we here? – I hear you ask. Or perhaps you’re saying – What the actual fukkkk, Dana? How is a story on Wrapped Buildings going to help my work? And the answer is, I don’t know. And if this is truly what you’re thinking, please don’t be so dull. Wrapped Buildings are awesome. Why? Because they are just like giant Christmas presents, except way cooler because you get to keep them forever.

Also, it’s not that often one can see buildings which challenge the conventional to this extent. I mean, I personally always thought curtains belonged on the inside of buildings, but many architects behind these projects clearly had a moment that went a little something like this – “Dude, I’m bored. Let’s do something fun. Ok, how about we wrap this building in… ummmm, a woven fabric…? No? A metal mesh blanket? You reckon it won’t work? But who says curtains always have to be on the inside of the building? Let’s play decorators and chuck some fabric on the outside…” Are these architects simply a bunch of frustrated interior designers? Perhaps. But who would have thought exterior curtains and woven screens would look this good? Certainly not me.

On that note – drumroll please – I give you twenty six wrapped buildings that articulate their facades by using unconventional materials in unexpected and interesting ways. Boom!

See More ‘Stories on Design’ Curated by Yellowtrace.

Photography by Åke E-son Lindman.

Juniper House in Gotland by Murman Arkitekter // Stockholm-based office Murman Arkitekter designed Juniper House for a small clearing in a grove of juniper trees on Gotland island. Hoping to blend the small, 50sqm home with its natural setting, the architects devised a double facade. The building’s timber construction is concealed on three sides with a screen-printed vinyl textile depicting photographs of trees, intended to serve as a camouflage. Genius!

Photography by Iwan Baan.

Kukje Art Centre in Seoul Korea by SO-IL // Chinese craftsmen welded and filed 510,000 stainless-steel links by hand to make the mesh blanket that fits precisely over the protruding lift shaft, stairwell and entrances of the Kukje Gallery in South Korea designed by New York architects SO-IL. Ummmm… WOW!

Photography by Edmund Sumner.

Guy’s Hospital in London by Thomas Heatherwick // Occupying a central London site next to London Bridge Station, the approaches to Guy’s Hospital were confused and congested resulting in the main entrance being hard to find. The scheme by Thomas Heatherwick, commissioned in 2005 and completed in 2007, captured a scope of works to address a range issues for the benefit of patients, visitors and staff. Much of the scheme consists of functional, pragmatic moves, which create space for a focal point, in this instance provided by Boiler Suit – a bespoke tiled cladding system wrapping around the boiler house.

Boiler Suit is fabricated from high grade stainless steel frames, with braid woven through as the “warp”. The 108 tiles are geometrically identical, with 17 variants required to accommodate specific junctions. The tiles are a secondary façade system that is demountable and allows the machinery to vent through, whilst framed reveals shade the large windows on the south façade to reduce solar gain.

In 2007, the project won the Building Better Healthcare Award for Public Space, and the FX Magazine, Judge’s Special Award.

Photography © Sylvia Volz, 1995, courtesy of Christo.

Photography © Wolfgang Volz, 1995, courtesy of Christo.

Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin by Christo and Jeanne Claude // Of course, we cannot possibly talk about Wrapped Buildings without bringing Christo into the conversation. Christo and Jeanne-Claude conceived the idea of wrapping the Berlin Reichstag back in 1971, but it took until the summer of 1995, when for two weeks the German capital was at the very centre of the art world, for the scheme to come to fruition.

More than five million visitors witnessed the final making of one of the most exhilarating artworks ever created — a work that had been 24 years in preparation. Until this day, Wrapped Reichstag represents a vision that took the world’s breath away, remaining one of the most memorable public art events of all time. Goosebumps.

Photography © Kurt Hoerbst.

Aichinger House in Kronstorf, Austria by Hertl Architekten // Thow two storey apartment building which once housed a restaurant, appears more as an example of a temporary art installation rather than a permanent piece of architecture. Sure, the fabric is probably going to be quite difficult to keep clean, and there will possibly be all sorts of problems which may arise with dirt and insects getting trapped between the fabric and the facade, but what a joyous example of what is possible when creativity is allowed to run its course, and the client agrees to take the risk.

What’s otherwise a super simple and a fairly ordinary example of architecture has become a talking piece, simply due to turning the inside-out concepts on its head. Ten points from me.

Read the full article about this project & see more images here.

Photography by Kouichi Torimura.

Tokyo House by A.L.X. Architect // Designed to exploit the constraints of Japanese planning laws, this corner dwelling by A.L.X. Architect guarantees its inhabitants more living space than they had originally thought possible. Located in a residential suburb of Tokyo, the design by architect Junichi Sampei encompasses three storeys, with the internal layout carefully considered throughout. The building’s reinforced concrete frame occupies the plot’s maximum footprint, and is finished with a thin coat of insulation. In order to ensure privacy, all apertures have been covered with perforated metal screens.

Photography © Hampus Berndtson.

The Orangery by Lenschow & Pihlmann + Mikael Stenström // This temporary pavilion stands distinctively as a delicate, white structure, with it’s form heavily influenced by baroque architecture. Illustrated by the curving oval and circular forms, the pavilion follows a similar floor plan of a church in Italy. This reinterpretation sees the contemporary form being made from a steel structure wrapped in a strong white plastic used to protect large objects during transportation.

Read the full article about this project & see more images here.

Photography by Brett Beyer.

Manus x Machina by OMA // OMA New York has used translucent textile to create a “ghost cathedral” for ‘The Met’s Manus x Machina’ exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which focused on the convergence of fashion and technology. Led by architect Shohei Shigematsu, OMA New York transformed what was previously an underused hallway into the exhibition space using scaffolding wrapped with a white perforated PVC fabric.

Photography by Iwan Baan.

Blueprint at Storefront for Art & Architecture in NYC, 2915 by SO-IL // Curated by Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu, and artist Sebastiaan Bremer, Blueprint at Storefront for Art and Architecture invited artists and architects to reflect on the theme of origination through the medium of the blueprint. The notion of the blueprint – a nostalgic medium (a bit like Yellowtrace!) – implies a plan and intention. The show is an assessment of the past and suggests a trajectory for the future.

Realised as part of the exhibition, the installation shrink-wrapped the gallery’s façade of varied and irregular openings, transforming the Holl-Acconci exterior into one continuous and undulating surface.

Photography by Simon Wilson.

Te Kaitaka: The Cloak by Fearon Hay Architects // Te Kaitaika ‘The Cloak’ by Fearon Hay Architects is situated in the heart of the growing urban environment at Auckland International Airport. A contoured living green roof is established over a shaped engineered timber frame. This shape provided the shoulders from which an encircling & distinctive woven mesh screen forms ‘The Cloak’.

The architecture is a combination of readily available construction approaches, layered with a degree of craft & legible materiality to showcase New Zealand sustainable design, materials, & innovation.

Photography by Daisuke Shimokawa /Nacása&Partners Inc.

MoyaMoya in Japan by PHENOMENON // The stainless steel veil is the hero of this otherwise fairly ordinary building, creating an illusion of being inside even if one is still outside. The veil moves with the wind, reflecting sunlight and responding to different times of the day with it’s changing reflections and moire patterns.

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