In a social-housing development in Polje in Slovenia (ill. 5; page 215), where the outline planning and various systems had already been determined, the architects Bevk Perovi ´c upgraded the central corridor with a light well adjoining the outer wall. They also enlivened the economical facade by making a feature of the screw fixings and by suspending steel balconies from the structure in an offset layout.
The Hagenbuchrain estate by the architects Bünzli and Courvoisier consists of a number of point blocks. The facade openings for the loggias are designed with the same care for detail as those of the glazed windows in other rooms (ills. 1, 6). In their dwelling block in Stansstad (ills. 2–4), Scheitlin Syfrig have interpreted the loggia as a continuation of the living room, with uninterrupted soffit, wall and floor planes. The housing development in
Munich by Ingrid Amann (ill. 7) has a regular alternation of vertical staircase glazing and loggias, creating a 70-metre-long wall that overlooks the public open space and forms an urban focus for the new development area.
In the east-west layouts of the Schüsspark in Biel by Kistler Vogt, the loggias extend five metres into the dwellings next to the living rooms (ill. 8). The open areas thus form cohesive glazed spaces in their own right.
Many architects appreciate these spatial qualities, but prefer a homogeneous facade without large areas of shadow. Baumschlager Eberle wrap their entire housing block in Winterthur in a white glass facade (ill. 9). In front of the windows and over the loggias, this takes the form of sliding elements that create subtly changing effects in the smooth outer skin. In Birsfelden by Morger & Degelo (page 180), continuous splayed glass balustrades overlay the facade with a series of horizontal bands, causing the building to merge visually with the reflection of the park. Continuous balustrade strips are also used by Ruisánchez in his housing block in Barcelona (page 174). Outside these is a layer of sliding aluminium shutters that mask and modulate sections of the actual facade to the rear.
Riken Yamamoto has combined the principle of flexible space with village-like social structures in a megablock in his Shinonome development (ills. 10, 13). Here, a number of “flexible rooms” grouped around two-storey communal loggias can be used as work-spaces or claimed by residents as an extension of their adjoining dwellings.
Access to the loft apartments in Amsterdam by DKV Architects (ills. 11, 12) is via broad galleries that form the sole outdoor spaces for the dwellings. The private areas along these routes are defined simply by a change in the floor finish and by the panes of obscured glass between the units.
In the blue-grey rendered housing blocks in Zurich by EM2N Architects, green pixelated blinds create the impression of an abstract oasis (ill. 14). As a temporary demarcation, they can transform the balconies at times into loggias with special lighting and colour moods. Since all dwellings have the same awnings, the requisite degree of unity is achieved, despite the lively pattern.
