À Bout de Souffle

We talk about the weather a lot. Yet often enough we do not build for, but against it. Facades play a key role as interfaces between the interior and exterior of buildings that are supposed to live with the climate in a dynamic way and not simply function despite of it. Many historic examples prove that they can perform purposes of both representation and protection, such as vernacular loam buildings in dry and hot climate zones, the double box windows of historic European houses, or the diaphragm mechanisms of the Institute de Monde Arabe by Atelier Jean Nouvel.

Climate buffers, solar chimneys, and photovoltaics are part of the toolkit of international architectural offices. For the police station in Chur by the Swiss studio Comamala Ismail, PV modules were installed on the facades at two different angles. As a result, they double as sun protection (page 22). Foster + Partners adapted traditional wind towers for the design of the Zayed National Museum in Abu Dhabi (cover and page 52). Its electrochromic glazing individually controls daylight intake and solar power gains while its wall cavities vent cool air upward into the exhibition area (cover). In the university building in Toronto (page 72) Moriyama Teshima Architects and Acton Ostry Architects combined active and passive systems. For five months a year heating, cooling, and ventilation equipment can be shut down completely.

Setting a winter garden in front of a facade in order to create a climate buffer is now established practice, as the pioneering Tour Bois le Prêtre demonstrates. For years now, this principle has been applied to a diverse range of existing structures with the aim of retrofitting them for purposes of climate adaptation and preventing their demolition. In this issue, we document the Peterbos highrise slab in Anderlecht (page 42), designed by Lacaton & Vassal and 51N4E. The inner values of an outer shell are important. Architecture needs to breathe. And effective facades are the best air conditioning unit.