Windows, walls, and doors are the details that make all the difference in a project, no matter how big or small. From elegant apertures that define a facade to the innovative technologies bringing more daylight into our homes and offices, this section offers a suite of case studies and curated projects that are raising the bar.
The six-figure window wall has been in high-demand, challenging architects and fabricators to innovate. Now that they’ve attained sustainable specs, are wealthy clients ready for the next trend?
38 One-Percent Flex
Blurring the boundary between inside and outside has been a central aim of modernism since 1929, when Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed one face of the Tugendhat House in Brno to slide down below the living area’s floor level. Recent developments in glass and construction technologies, including almost tintless glass products like Starphire from Vitro (formerly PPG), and similar products, have made that ideal ever-more attainable—if you have the funds. Architects around North America are using floor-to-ceiling telescoping, accordioning, and even simple sliding doors to open the already expansive, loftlike living areas for the minus-one-percenters to deliver the spectacular views their often seven-figure homes command. Is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per wall worth it?
Certainly, the results are dramatic. Seeing a whole wall disappear with the push of a finger, either through the use of a well-balanced slider or electronic controls, elicits gasps even from those used to the effect. Some architects think that the opening achieves a more fundamental good. The Tugendhat House itself was designed for a client who had asthma; the opening, as well as the house’s hidden filtration system, was in service of the client’s health concerns as much as Mies’s idealization of “almost nothing.”
“If we have blurred the line between the inside and outside, we will have achieved something,” Las Vegas architect Eric Strain told AN. As well as designing homes with budgets of multiple millions, he has been the architect for schools and community centers that have very restricted budgets. “For years, Las Vegas schools did not have windows, mainly because of cost, but also supposedly because of security. Since using large windows in some of our schools, we are getting reports that students there are less stressed
and more productive, and absenteeism is way down. I think the same is true in homes. You don’t feel as confined and stressed, you can breathe, you feel the space around you.” Moreover, Strain explained, the connection “helps change the attitude toward living with, not away from, the outdoors and climate.” As an architect, Strain believes that he demonstrates that with proper shading you can open up a house and enjoy the outdoors even when it’s 110 degrees.
In a completely different climate, architects Lisa Bovell and Matthew McLeod open the homes they design in North Vancouver to views of the Burrard Inlet, the Strait of Georgia, and the downtown skyline across the water. Here, it’s not so much the tinting and shading that is an issue as the frames of each window. Framing must be able to withstand the bite of the sea air over time, as well as the frequent storms that sweep through the area.
For McLeod, it is all about what makes the opening possible. He told AN that “we are actually more interested in the reduction of the reading of the window details and materials associated with glazing.… Most of the frames end up ‘buried’ in ceiling, walls, and floors.” he said. As a result, McLeod has also experimented with eliminating the frame (and window frame supplier) altogether. “By making our own enclosures out of industrial aluminum or GRP [fiberglass] profiles for simple fixed units, they are then completely buried in adjacent assemblies.”
Jonathan Feldman, working in the temperate climate of the San Francisco Bay Area (though also with its strict energy and earthquake codes), similarly aspires to the fluidity that large and operable windows provide. But he’s slightly more nuanced in his approach. “While we do consistently create designs that emphasize indoor/outdoor connections,
June 2024
which typically translates into large areas of glass walls that open or retract, we have come to realize that many architects overdo glazing as a default strategy,” he told AN. “It’s often the contrast between solid and void, with carefully considered choreography, that creates a more dramatic and controlled effect.”
Max Strang, whose practice is producing multiple large homes across Florida, often designs living areas along the coast or inland waterways. An openness to the water and its breezes is central to the design process—as is the requirement to lift buildings off the ground. In coastal and low-country regions, local codes tend to prohibit building permanently occupiable rooms on current or future floodplains. These constraints mean Strang’s designs have a spectacular sense of continuity, which he admits “comes with a pretty decent price.” He has recently sensed a reaction against these kinds of reductive structures: “I think the pendulum might swing back to more punched openings and enclosure.”
With a single double- or triple-paned window and its enclosure often costing well over $10,000, a whole assembly, including reinforcements that allow for the spans, can claim up to 15 percent of a total (multimillion-dollar) budget. As an observer, I have to wonder whether it is worth it. The effects can be spectacular. That designers can do so while still answering to ever stricter energy codes, and perhaps even reduce reliance on heating and cooling because of that fluidity, is certainly laudable. But with the effect coming at a cost that only few can afford, and that also depends on manufacturing processes that use ever more steel, glass, and chemicals, the achievement becomes more questionable.
Throughout the modernist period, the single-family home for the wealthy client on a privileged site has allowed architects the chance to experiment with new techniques, forms, and materials. Whether there will be a trickle down from the suburbs of Las Vegas, the hills of Napa Valley, the seaside of Miami, or the rocky shores of the Georgia Strait to the places where most of us live will be the real test of whether the ideal of a physically, as well as notionally, open architecture is possible.
Aaron Betsky is a critic of architecture, design, and art who lives in Philadelphia. His book Don’t Build Rebuild will be published by Beacon Press this fall.
Early modernist homes popularized the ribbon window.
Assemblage Studio’s residences seamlessly transition outside. Jonathan Feldman’s glassy facades make a fast impression.
Assemblage’s Glass walls contrast nicely with water elements.
Max Strang uses glass as a light counterpart in modern homes.
THOMAS LEDL/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/CC-BY 4.0
STETSON YBARRA PHOTOGRAPHY
ADAM ROUSE
CLAUDIO MANZONI
STETSON YBARRA PHOTOGRAPHY
40 Case Study
Curved and Corrugated
In Fort Worth, Texas, Marlon Blackwell Architects delivers a distinctive live–work complex.
No, PS1200 is not a public school: The “PS” in its name stands for public space . Indeed, a new kind of open, sociable space was the inspiration for Marlon Blackwell Architects’ recent project, realized in collaboration with landscape architect Julie Bargmann for Detroit-based developer Prince Concepts. Immediately identifiable through its use of Quonset hut arches, a batch of new-wave row houses serve as a backdrop to the hip corridor of Fort Worth’s Magnolia Avenue, which anchors the burgeoning neighborhood of Magnolia Village.
Each of the arches is rendered in metal with impressive corrugations ranging from 10 to 12 inches deep, rather than the more customary 1 to 2 inches. The metal is strong enough to provide the structure for the roof and walls of Blackwell’s residences: Each vaulted space is a market-rate rental apartment.
at Blackwell, explained. The curved form is self-supporting, and while the sides of each Quonset traditionally reach all the way to the ground, where the earth disperses and supports the weight of the structure, these instead bear on a concrete platform that houses retail spaces below the housing.
Architect: Marlon Blackwell Architects
Landscape designer: D.I.R.T. Studio
Landscape architect of record: Studio Outside
Civil engineering: Salcedo Group
Structural engineering: Datum Engineers, The Sadler Group
Mechanical/electrical engineer: Root
Engineering Services
General contractor: PGP Construction
Developer: Prince Concepts
Cladding, roofing: SteelMaster
Glass: Guardian Glass
Storefront: TubeLite
Door/hardware: C. R. Laurence
Fixtures: Kohler, Elkay, Schluter Systems
Lighting: Liton, Savegreen, Saylite
Prince Concepts had already experimented with Quonsets in Detroit, including a long, 8-unit building dubbed The Caterpillar and designed by Undecorated. In Fort Worth, a sense of seriality was desired to create visual rhythm, but the choice of the particular dimensions of the Quonset hut is a clear reference to the city’s Kimbell Museum, designed by Louis Kahn. That project used barrel vaults in concrete to bring zenithal light into art galleries without the harmful glare of UV rays. PS1200 pays homage to that iconic neighbor, but also to the site-specific history of the Fort Worth Stockyards, just north of downtown, which also employed the efficient form of the barrel vault. The two disparate references work together to define Fort Worth’s emerging blend of high art Western mythology.
“The inspiration for this form was partly industrial and partly simplicity,” Meryati Blackwell, principal and interior design director
Beyond Kahn’s Kimbell, Marlon Blackwell, the other founding principal of Marlon Blackwell Architects, told AN that the project also “connected to his theory of served and service spaces.” Each service zone is efficiently designed to serve sophisticated apartments, complete with plywood built-ins that help tenants work with the curved forms. The plywood (and in some places maple, like on doorways) complements the otherwise white interior spaces. With this canvas, Meryati said, “the interiors are then primed for each tenant to make the space their own.”
But beyond the private residences themselves, the public space is generous to both tenants and visitors alike. The development, which takes up about a quarter of a block, attempts to be a complete and compact urban neighborhood, organizing core institutions like restaurants, barbershops, cafes, and green spaces into one walkable destination. This density is something that was once common in cities and small towns but was eroded in the 20th century as a result of sprawling cities and ever greater reliance on private cars for transportation. PS1200, however, seeks to reunify the public realm.
“The sense of spatial generosity is really what makes PS1200 stand apart. It’s named not for the residences, but for the public space, and that idea carries into the design as well as into the social success the project has enjoyed,”
Marlon shared. The landscape design was handled by Bargmann, a regular Prince Concepts collaborator, with Dallas-based landscape architects Studio Outside. The resultant public realm seamlessly invokes the Quonset’s corrugated metal, but in a low-rise format. To allow windows to puncture the metal walls—a no-no in typical Quonset huts, as the walls are the load-bearing structure—the product is rotated 90 degrees into horizontal bands. Freed from the demands of structural support, designers were then able to cut sculptural window apertures and design weather-tight caps for each.
The project is a new offering in a growing (and gentrifying) area of Fort Worth, but PS1200 makes clear that it has ambitious plans to grow with its neighbors. The public terrain of the project encourages new initiatives to sprout around it and provides a welcoming space for people to linger and gather. Marlon also emphasized the makers taking root: “We’re proud of the small businesses that helped shape the spaces and the diversity of commercial offerings at PS1200 already.”
The architects also offered an example of the restaurant on-site, which is the culmination of a longtime dream for the owners of Spiral Diner, a popular vegan establishment nearby on Magnolia Avenue. The family-run operation had wanted to open an elevated outpost for years. A single-story building at the front of PS1200 was the perfect space and is now home to Maiden, North Texas’s first fine-dining vegan restaurant.
“The project as a whole has been called ‘a bit ahead of its time.’ We take that as a compliment,” Marlon said. “There is a civic dignity to the design and the program, and we’re excited to see what else the local community does to continue to evolve the neighborhood.” EC
TIMOTHY HURSLEY
June 2024
Previous page: An aerial view showcases the seriality created by each Quonset arch.
Clockwise from left: Each Quonset hut represents one market-rate apartment; interiors are generous and carved with white finishes and plywood details; the corrugated metal material extends into the public sphere, cladding restaurants and small businesses; Car-free paths connect public and private spaces.
TIMOTHY HURSLEY
TIMOTHY HURSLEY
TIMOTHY HURSLEY
TIMOTHY HURSLEY
42 Products
OUR COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainable methods and practices have always been at the heart of Kawneer. We have made significant progress and paved a leadership approach in many areas for over 100 years, mindfully balancing business strategy with business responsibility.
At a time when environmental and social change is critical and action is paramount, BALANCE represents a commitment to ensure the legacies we build at Kawneer are sustainable, integrating holistic practices into our business, operations, logistics, products, services, people and our entire value chain. Scan the QR code to learn more.
Doors & Sliders
Marvin Ultimate Sliding Doors | Marvin marvin.com
The Ultimate Sliding Door is built on the same design platform as Marvin’s Ultimate swinging door counterpart, ensuring a seamless and consistent aesthetic across different door types. The slider features 3-inch stiles and rails with standard square glazing profiles.
This reengineered approach to barn door design includes three distinct sliding door systems that enable several postinstallation adjustments including door stop location, track leveling, and track height.
Edge Bi-Fold Doors | PurOptima puroptima.com
Now available in the U.S., the Edge Bi-Fold Door is a singleglazed solution used with PurOptima Microflush doorframes and is designed for seamless integration with the PurOptima 117 Plus system.
M1700E
MOTOR DRIVE ELECTRIFIED NARROW BACKSET MORTISE LOCK
This ultra narrow backset lock is the newest introduction to our electromechanical line of mortise locks is designed for use on glass doors with aluminum stiles and eliminates the need for unsightly electric strikes. Pair with a variety of decorative or commercial trim options to do more with less.
Available in 1-1/8” backset standard.
46 Case Study
Froebel First
HGA uses simple geometries to achieve a child-centered design for The Blake School.
Any building should be designed with its primary occupants in mind. So for a school, this means centering students and tailoring interventions to a variety of ages, abilities, and learning styles. HGA Architects has achieved this level of specificity and mixed it with spontaneity and sustainability at The Blake School’s Early Learning Center in Minneapolis. Designers chose simple geometries, basic colors, and child-height windows, among many other details, through a design process that directly engaged student input. This is fitting, since the school follows the Italian Reggio Emilia philosophy, under which childhood education operates similarly to a democracy or the workings of a city.
“This was my first time engaging with this type of teaching philosophy. It was striking how aligned it was with our own ideas, ideals, and values about the city—and about architecture’s role in it,” HGA design principal Nat Madson told AN One principle of the Reggio Emilia approach is to organize learning spaces around a central square. In this integral space, HGA opted to expose the structural system of choice—a mass-timber one made entirely of southern pine beams and columns. Massing for the project was largely informed by Froebel toys, popularized in Germany in the 19th century. The simple geometries of these wooden play objects were repeated throughout the Early Learning Center: They appear on the rounded balconies, on the stairway that doubles as seating, and on the light boxes installed on the rooftop.
The window orientation of the roof’s volumetric skylights allows daylight to spill into the central common area at various times of day. One was designed with a triangular form, while the two others have a more cylindrical shape.
To integrate the new addition with existing facilities, located just up the hill, HGA opted for brick. The brickwork surrounding each window and entrance was outlined with a coating of white paint, and to add texture, bricks extrude from the flatness of several facades. In keeping with the playful mood, some stretchers were painted blue, green, or yellow. These simple colorways correspond to the structuring and
layout of the school, wherein each grade has its own theme in line with the landscape: field for preschool, forest for kindergarten, and treetop for first grade.
At each level the colors enliven walls, partitions, balconies, and staircases as decorative elements that double as means of wayfinding and placemaking. All classrooms open to the outdoors, with the field-level opening directly onto a play area, while the upper floors include terraces. There are three classrooms for each grade level. Preschool teachers wanted their classrooms to open up to one another while still having the ability to “close down the rooms” if
needed. HGA senior interior designer Michelle Hammer explained that this desire for separation was achieved by installing sliding panels between the classrooms.
Additionally, each classroom was outfitted with “nook conditions.” These areas are partitioned with translucent walls that create “more intimate” versus “more introverted” spaces, depending on need, Hammer continued. Programming was further defined via bold floor markings and furniture placement—in one classroom a miniature kitchen set closes off a play area, while outside a fence encircles a recreation space.
One of the many unique details visitors to The Blake School will notice are the entry door handles. They were fashioned by older students in the woodshop at the upper school. These represent just one way HGA’s building design is informed by, as well as informing, the curriculum and learning of its youngest denizens. KK
Above: A dynamic brick facade plays with the brick’s form to create patterns and visual interest, juxtaposed with color and generous windows for sunlight and visual connection.
KENDALL MCCAUGHERTY
June 2024
Top left: The school’s exterior is defined by a low profile with rhythmic windows.
Top right: Outdoor gathering spaces are designed for students to play and recharge.
Above: Double-height spaces optimize access to natural light.
Above right: Custom plywood details make interiors feel seamless and connected to work.
Right: Color and geometry activate learning and playful behavior.
KENDALL MCCAUGHERTY
KENDALL MCCAUGHERTY
KENDALL MCCAUGHERTY
KENDALL MCCAUGHERTY
KENDALL MCCAUGHERTY
48 Products
Self-Latching Sliding Door Sets | Accurate Lock & Hardware accuratelockandhardware.com
This self-latching sliding door lock is an easy-to-operate privacy solution for ADA-compliant openings. The latch bolt is held back and released by pressing a button or by sliding the door closed against the jamb.
Ashley Norton’s latest collection of cabinet hardware features designs made of walnut, oak, and ash with a new stained black finish. Since each piece of hardware is made from real walnut and oak, no two are identical. Select Round Smooth Cabinet Edge Pull | Emtek emtek.com The Emtek Select platform, now available for Cabinet Knobs and Edge Pulls, provides a higher level of hardware customization. The Select Round Smooth Cabinet Edge Pull (shown here) comes in seven finishes.
New York–based design studio Civilian, Hemispheres merges
50 Products
Acoustic Treatments
These acoustic solutions offer new ways to integrate sound control in interior spaces. RCO
Ultima LEC Ceiling Panels | Armstrong armstrongceilings.com/commercial
Compared to standard Armstrong Ultima ceiling panels, Ultima Low Embodied Carbon (LEC) delivers a 43 percent reduction in embodied carbon, utilizing new technology that includes sustainably sourced, wood-generated biochar. Ultima LEC panels have USDA-verified 100 percent bio-based content.
FAZR | Fräsch frasch.com
This linear wood acoustic ceiling solution was inspired by the linear appearance of phasers from classic works of science fiction. FAZR is made of 9mm PET dovetail channels that clip onto the standard Rockfon symmetrical carrier system, mimicking the linear metal ceiling look with the benefits of acoustical PET felt.
Stone Textures | TURF turf.design
Through Turf’s expert digital printing process, the three Stone Texture patterns—Marble, Travertine, and Granite—emulate the dynamic veining and intricate details of natural stone with the high performance of Turf’s acoustic range. Turf’s specialized technology creates a pattern with no repeat printed onto 60 percent recycled PET felt with water-based, UV-cured ink.
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Inspired by the foliage of the Canary Islands, these fluid, organic acoustic wall designs are made of 100 percent wool felt and are easily installed with a direct-glue application.
LumAngle 120º | Arktura arktura.com
To complement Arktura’s wide range of acoustic and metal systems, the LumAngle commercial lighting system comes in three angles—90º, 120º, and a linear 180º in a range of sizes and configurations. LumAngle 120 º complements Arktura’s SoftGrid Hex or SoundStar acoustic products.
FilzFelt
Grains + Reeds filzfelt.com
Vika | Abstracta abstracta.se
The Vika floor screen manages low- and high-frequency noise in offices, hotels, restaurants, and other interiors requiring better acoustics. The oblong floor screen is folded into the shape of a wing to absorb sound while concealing the screen’s indirect LED light source.
Introducing our new family of Stone Textures that capture the beauty of natural stone. Inspired by nature, designed for felt, and stunningly unique. Stone
has never felt so inspired.
Barcelona Wall Scape
52 Case Study
Watch Out
Lissoni & Partners transforms five floors within the iconic Garage Traversi for AP House in Milan.
In 1939, Milan’s first multistory car park opened. Garage Traversi, designed by Giuseppe De Min, became a historic example of Italian rationalism with its curved facade, steel-framed windows, and innovative car-lift system. As part of an ongoing effort to convert the formerly abandoned structure into a luxury shopping destination, part of ex–Garage Traversi is now home
to AP House, a new retail concept from haute horologist Audemars Piguet.
Lissoni & Partners transformed five floors and the roof of the building into an experiential retail concept. Each floor serves a different function, from an exhibition space and lounge to a bar, shop, collector’s room, and inspection and customer care area. To work across six total floors and more than 17,222 square feet prompted a challenge for the designers “to connect the different floors, not in a physical way but in an aesthetic way and, at the same time, in a functional way,” explained the studio’s founder and principal, Piero Lissoni.
The designers project the watchmaker’s heritage and ethos beginning at the entry. An ebony wall juxtaposed with a lateral glass panel houses a myriad of optical illusions—a foreshadowing of the immersive digital experience Dreamscape one floor above. Its inclusion is a gesture toward the brand’s positioning as both a heritage and a future-forward watchmaker.
From the entry, a sculptural spiral staircase (a nod to the mainspring of a watch) connects the five floors. The staircase is made of a special black stainless steel, recalling some of the materials found in Audemars Piguet watches.
The steps are surrounded by a curved wall that faintly glows. “Around the staircase is onyx. We cut the onyx and put an LED light inside,” Lissoni explained. Essentially, “it’s a huge lamp inside the building.” These thin veneers of stone have been used recently in other stunning
architectural projects, like REX’s Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York, and all may be a nod to the iconic Gordan Bunshaft–designed Beinecke Library at Yale, but Lissoni turns the subtle glow inward in Milan.
On the other floors, the designers continue to play with light. Crystal and semitransparent operable partitions help diffuse natural sunlight throughout the space when closed and reveal cyber maps when opened. Inside a circular niche, gridded walls light the room and hold display cases for timepieces. And in the servicing center, glass walls allow visitors to see watchmakers fixing or inspecting watches, but an option to fog the glass hides the manufacturing from view when required.
Similarly, the exhibit floor houses what Lissoni refers to as the “museum wall,” a dark, floor-to-ceiling wall comprising a concentration of boxes that display timepieces. Depending on the time or event, AP House may choose to display anywhere from ten to 100 watches: Inset boxes can either hide or reveal them without any watch appearing to be missing. When closed, the apertures form geometric patterns on the wall, like a backdrop. Lissoni explained: “The display system is very complicated because we try not to be traditional. For example, we designed vertical towers, and inside each vertical tower is one watch—that’s it.”
Visual references to Milan can be found in the gridded and rectilinear details along the walls, windows, and ceiling. These elements all
nod to the building’s history, strengthened by the collection of vintage furniture and design pieces made by famous Milanese designers like Osvaldo Borsani, Franco Albini, and Ettore Sottsass.
“Design in that way is like glue,” said Lissoni. It sandwiches together the many eras of the timekeeper’s legacy with the new city they call home. KP
Above, left: A moody yet modern space begins with a sleek palette of dark metal and concrete.
Above, right: A central element is a spiral stair lit like a lamp with translucsent onyx.
Facing page: Custom display spaces extend beyond traditional wall-hanging elements into dynamic enclaves, like this semi-enclosed glass cylinder.
A palette of materials, finishes, and surfaces for indoor excellence. RCO
Sottsass Grey | Treefrog treefrogveneer.com
Treefrog has revamped its entire collection, adding 11 new FSCcertified prefinished woods, including seven new Designer Veneers. Designed by the late Ettore Sottsass, Sottsass Grey was recently reintroduced in more muted wood tones by Treefrog’s Italian supplier.
PK30 Sliding Stacking System | PK-30 System pk30system.com
Shown here in the Hafele New York showroom by Perkins + Will’s New York studio. The PK30 12-foot-tall sliding stacking system requires no floor track for installation. The system’s panels are made of wood, glass, and metal. Monarc Interior Composite Wall Panels | 3A Composites 3acompositesusa.com/monarc
This new range of composite wall panels for contract interiors is available in 19 options across three collections inspired by raw materials, natural stone, and wood. Monarc is made from two sheets of .012” aluminum bonded to a fire-retardant mineral core in a continuous extrusion process, creating a rigid and durable aluminum-composite panel.
Dreamscape Collection | 3form 3-form.com
For its first designer collection, 3form partnered with New York–based design firm Ringo Studio to create a surfacing palette that includes seven combinations of materials, colors, patterns, and finishes.
12” Value Ladder Pull | Allsteel allsteeloffice.com
Hardware for Allsteel’s Aspect and Beyond Walls has been updated to include a new 12” Value Ladder Pull that is visually consistent with other new ladder pulls.
Petal Pink Softwall | Molo molodesign.com
At this year’s ICFF in New York City, Molo premiered its new limited-edition Petal Pink custom color for its freestanding textile Softwall partition system.
56 Resources
This listing combines companies specified in case studies; product highlights from our Contributing Products Editor, Rita Catinella Orrell; and additional recommendations, all in one place.
Hardware
Accurate Lock and Hardware accuratelockandhardware.com
CRL offers a comprehensive line of glass partition systems that can transform interiors to improve daylighting, transparency, acoustic privacy, and aesthetics.
