advanced building skins 14 | 15 June 2012 - lamp.tugraz.at - Graz ...

3 Examples
3.1 Reiss Façade, London
Advanced Building Skins
The fashion label Reiss built his new flagship store in the middle of London, GB. The facade of the
store had to illustrate the brand philosophy into architecture.
The idea for the light transmitting facade with the machined Plexiglas® was born by the London
architects Squire & Partner. The whole façade is routed with different structures in the surfaces. Those
different structures give a linear impression. PLEXIGLAS® blocks in 50 mm thickness, vertically
routed to different depths, were used to give the façade a three-dimensional effect.
Figure 3: Reiss Façade, London
The refraction of light caused by different routing patterns creates a constantly shifting play of light
for the viewer, both outside and inside, depending on the lighting situation. At the same time, the
heterogeneously machined surface provides pleasant light, without glare, which is especially important
for the offices and workshops behind the façade. At night, individually controlled LED strips beneath
the individual panels transform the façade into a translucent curtain of glistening light, and
demonstrate the high light conductivity of the PLEXIGLAS® material.
The demand on the material was transparency combined with translucency, achieved with the
possibility for machining PMMA. The applied material is a Plexiglas® with 50mm thickness,
machined on a mill.
3.2 Raab Karcher Store, Berlin
Figure 4: Routed sample
The company Raab Karcher opened their first Flagshipstore “home couture” in the middle of Berlin
2004. In this showroom the newest flagging is displayed. The architect for the store was Bernhard
Franken.
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