Identifying trends in metal construction design is difficult to do, but I certainly do have aspirations, things that I hope to see. There are three things: developing an envelope that shapes the outside and inside, capture phenomena in the metal system to intensify the effects of weather, and create metal systems that amplify light.
Inside Outside Envelope
We see a lot of metal screens where they’re disengaged from the weather seal such as metal screen over glass. For some time, I’ve been wondering when the metal cladding system, the envelope system, begins to shape both the outside and the inside to the point where the glass sits within the voids of the envelope system-a serial system of units (outside and inside) with the wet seal embedded between.
When will the technology allow the glass to operate in between? It’s like a car windshield or portal window for a boat. You have chassis with an outer body (and substructure), an inner body, with glass units as a transition. The glass is in the envelope rather than attached behind or in front of the screen. It could be done at the scale of a panel, and then multiplied in a variety of tiling organizations and sizes. That’s an envelope system that would really shape the form and space of the building rather than being merely a veil. The envelope becomes a shape agent.
Weather Changes the Building
I’m also interested in how weathering could become more a part of a how a building finishes itself, in terms of how it patinas over time. Through metal you could shape the way water moves down the side of the building, so you develop intensities of water that would create different patina effects on panels such as copper or bronze or Corten. How would that effect the finish of the building by incorporating time and the forces of nature in a more controlled way? The finishing of the building is then never truly complete. Metal is so workable, you could direct water across it through texture, pattern and folding.
Amplified Light
Vitruvius said architecture must have firmness, commodity and delight. I think metal certainly provides firmness and has the commodity to be useful, but I wonder if delight is the direction metal could go. As I stated, it could begin to shape the phenomena of climate such to create patterned patinas, or another way would be to reflect daylight by configuring the surface in such a way for light to be amplified. We want to use phenomena to amplify the effects of the material and also of the building itself.
A lot of this occurs in the surface, in its figure, but I’m thinking about how you extrude metal or create profiles or fasten the metal in certain locations that actually amplify light by capturing it in the surface. As the light of the day or season changes, so does the metal surface, creating a variety of effects. A building envelope might then be imbued with the order of change. I’m interested in a product I could get off the shelf in my budget that can accomplish that. Clients have a desire for light, but less of an economic will to use customized systems. Could we develop a line of products that begin to produce delightful effects and fit in a price point that can be affordable?
All of these things could be custom, but could also be standardized for economy. There is a trend I see in how to get abstraction into off-theshelf systems. In our work, we take the Louisville, Ky.-based Metal Sales Manufacturing Corp.’s box rib panel system and make it look abstract. We customize all the transitional trims, and then use their off-the-shelf panels. It’s a really taut, almost seamless surface. My question is why isn’t that being offered, rather than over-scaled component systems that tend to exaggerate the transitions that have it read primarily as a metal building system rather than something abstract? It would be great to have more options on these corners and trims. A lot more architects would be more fearless in using it.
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Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, is principal at Fayetteville, Ark.-based Marlon Blackwell Architects. He serves as the E. Fay Jones Distinguished Professor at the Fay Jones School of Architecture + Design at the University of Arkansas. His designs interpret local forms and materials in a contemporary way that challenges the status quo of architecture in rural and suburban environments.