A central component of the façade is triple silver-coated Solarban 70 glass from Vitro Architectural Glass. The glazing delivers a visible light transmittance (VLT) of 64% and a solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) of 0.27, providing substantial daylight and outward visibility while limiting unwanted solar heat gain. The specification was selected to balance transparency, solar control and colour-neutral clarity while supporting occupant comfort and reducing cooling loads.

The façade responds differently to each orientation. On the east elevation, large overhangs and a calibrated brise-soleil filter morning sunlight while allowing extensive glazing. Daylight reaches the commons, instructional laboratories, collaboration areas and exterior terrace.

The west façade uses less glazing to reduce afternoon solar exposure. Behind limestone cladding are research laboratory casework and equipment, while selected glazing strips incorporate electrochromic technology that automatically adjusts tint according to solar intensity.

On the north and façade elevations, fully glazed faculty offices bring daylight deeper into the building. Projecting shade portals of varying depths provide additional solar protection without sacrificing outward views.

The enclosure operates as a layered system. Brise-soleil and fins reduce direct solar gain, metal screens act as secondary filters, and frit and coatings moderate glare and solar exposure. Cladding and spandrel panels provide additional thermal control and integrate the façade composition.

SmithGroup used SketchUp and Revit to evaluate glazing locations, shading geometry, solar insolation and daylight levels, refining glazing extents and shading depths through iterative studies.

The façade also makes the building’s engineering visible. Glazed exhaust shafts and elevators expose working systems, while colour-coded ductwork, piping and electrical infrastructure and visible performance meters turn the facility into a teaching tool. The U-shaped building opens onto a shaded courtyard where a calibrated trellis helps draw air upward, creating a more comfortable outdoor environment for instruction and events.

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The building will emerge from the coastal terrain through a single parabolic concrete shell, with its geometry determined by three high points on the site. Rather than relying on numerous internal supports, the curved structure will transfer forces toward three principal support points, creating a large column-free interior. The curvature will also allow relatively long spans while reducing material use and exposed surface area. Its aerodynamic profile is intended to reduce wind turbulence and minimise snow accumulation, important considerations for a building exposed to Arctic coastal conditions.

The roof will cover approximately 4,900 m², exceeding the building’s total floor area. It will incorporate a curved composite structure of corrugated steel decking, cast-in-place concrete and substantial steel beams. Once completed, the roof will be covered with natural, locally sourced stone and designed as an accessible public landscape. Visitors will be able to walk across the roof to viewpoints overlooking the Norwegian Sea and the Vesterålen archipelago.

One of the project’s most technically distinctive components will be its glazed envelope. Staticus will design, manufacture and install approximately 1,537 m² of aluminium-glazed façade, including 590 m² of soffit. The façade will incorporate large curved glazing elements, with individual panels bent to follow the building’s geometry. According to Staticus, the system will be distinguished by the absence of vertical profiles, producing a continuous visual surface and maximising the views from the interior toward the ocean and mountains.

The glazed façade will form the transparent edge of the principal column-free exhibition space, creating a direct visual connection between the interior programme and the Arctic landscape. The centre will contain approximately 1,800 m² of exhibition space, alongside supporting functions, with the experience developed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates and Tamschick Media+Space. The exhibition programme will address whale evolution, biology, behaviour, communication, habitats and the broader relationship between humans and marine environments.

The site itself is central to the project. Andenes lies close to the Bleiksdjupa deep-sea canyon, where the continental shelf drops rapidly offshore and creates conditions that bring whales close to the coast. The building is therefore being positioned directly within one of Norway’s most important whale-watching environments.

Construction began in June 2025, following an idea that originated in 2014 and an architectural competition won by Dorte Mandrup in 2019. HENT is the main contractor, with the project being developed toward its planned 3 June 2027 grand opening and 4 June public opening.

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A built example is LC LIVIN in Lahnstein, Germany, where the residential building faces a railway line. Designed by MPLUS Architekten, the project uses a Kalzip FC façade system incorporating FC 30/300 and FC 30/350 profiles with partial perforation. The aluminium profiles feature an AluPlusPatina finish in Bronze B40 and Champagne G12, with installation carried out by Werhand GmbH & Co. The façade incorporates sound-absorbing insulation positioned behind the metal skin and was developed and acoustically tested in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute.

The Perforation Is Doing the Work

The principle is more sophisticated than simply putting holes in an aluminium panel.

When sound reaches a perforated surface, air moves through the openings. Friction and viscous losses around the perforations convert part of the acoustic energy into heat. The cavity behind the panel then becomes a critical component of the absorber. Its depth, perforation geometry and absorptive backing determine which frequency ranges can be attenuated effectively.

This is why a perforated façade cannot be evaluated by the metal sheet alone.

Typical acoustic assemblies can use sub-millimetre to millimetre-scale perforations, controlled open areas and cavity depths of several centimetres or more. Increasing the cavity depth generally shifts the absorption response toward lower frequencies, while the perforation ratio influences the acoustic resistance of the panel. For architects, this creates an unusual opportunity: the acoustic treatment can remain on the exterior while becoming part of the façade language.

The most effective systems can integrate the acoustic layer into a ventilated rainscreen construction. Behind the perforated aluminium, mineral wool or another porous absorber occupies the cavity. The external panel provides weather protection while the backing material dissipates acoustic energy.

This approach is particularly relevant where conventional acoustic insulation alone cannot solve the problem. Railway noise, for example, contains significant low-frequency components, making façade composition, glazing selection and junction detailing critical.

The weakest component can ultimately determine the performance of the entire envelope. A high-performing opaque wall paired with poorly specified glazing, inadequate seals or acoustic vents can undermine the intended result.

That makes acoustic façade engineering a system-design problem rather than a material-selection exercise.

Did you know a façade could be engineered to absorb sound? What may look like a simple perforated aluminium skin can, when combined with the right cavity, insulation and detailing, become part of a building’s acoustic defence. Projects such as LC LIVIN show that acoustic performance is no longer confined to what sits behind the façade, the façade itself can be engineered to work with sound.

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Glass, aluminium systems, insulation, coatings, fixings, structural engineering, installation and maintenance all contribute to the capital cost of a building. The façade is then expected to perform its fundamental duties: resist weather, control heat transfer, manage solar radiation, provide daylight and maintain thermal and visual comfort.

But what if the façade were evaluated not only by what it costs to build, but by what it returns throughout its service life?

A façade can now do considerably more than separate inside from outside. Building-integrated photovoltaics can incorporate electricity generation directly into roofs, façades, glazing and shading systems, while their performance is increasingly assessed alongside thermal behaviour, daylighting, acoustic performance, durability and safety. The 2025 IEA PVPS Building-Integrated Photovoltaics: A Technical Guidebook explicitly treats these as interconnected BIPV performance requirements.

What If the Façade Could Earn?

Building-integrated photovoltaics are an obvious example of this shift.

The principle is straightforward: photovoltaic technology is incorporated into a building element that would already be required, a façade, roof, skylight, shading system or glazing assembly. Instead of installing a separate energy-generation system on top of the building, the building envelope itself becomes part of the generation infrastructure.

A conventional PV installation is generally evaluated around electricity production. BIPV introduces another economic dimension because the photovoltaic element can also replace a conventional building material. IEA PVPS research on BIPV business models identifies the combination of electricity revenues and cost avoidance from replacing other building materials as a central difference between BIPV and conventional PV installations.

The comparison therefore changes, it is no longer necessarily: PV system versus no PV system. It can be: conventional façade versus multifunctional façade.

That is a much more interesting calculation. The building already needs an envelope. The question is whether that envelope can perform additional functions without compromising the requirements it was originally designed to satisfy.

The first return may be the energy that is never consumed

Electricity generation is the easiest benefit to quantify, but it is not the only one. A façade influences the building’s thermal loads long before photovoltaic cells begin generating electricity. Solar-control glazing can limit unwanted solar gains. Low-emissivity coatings can reduce radiative heat transfer. Shading devices can control incident radiation before it reaches the glazing. Thermal breaks can reduce conductive heat flow through aluminium framing.

The U.S. Department of Energy identifies glazing ratio, climate, orientation, shading and solar heat gain as interconnected variables in building-envelope and daylighting performance.

This creates another economic chain:

solar radiation → façade response → heat gain → cooling load → HVAC consumption → operating cost

The relationship is particularly important in highly glazed buildings. The Solar Heat Gain Coefficient, for example, measures the fraction of solar radiation transmitted through glazing; lower-SHGC products generally reduce unwanted solar heat gain and therefore can reduce cooling loads in appropriate climates.

This means the façade does not have to generate electricity to create energy value. It can create value by reducing the amount of energy the building needs in the first place. The most valuable kilowatt-hour generated by a façade may be the one the building never needs to consume.

But daylight complicates the equation

The objective is not simply to block solar radiation. A façade that rejects too much solar energy may also reject useful daylight. A façade that maximises transparency may increase cooling loads or glare. The challenge is to control solar heat without unnecessarily sacrificing visible light.

The U.S. Department of Energy distinguishes between solar heat gain and visible transmittance precisely because they represent different aspects of glazing performance. Its guidance notes that glazing design has to balance daylight, solar heat gain, orientation, shading and the building’s wider energy requirements.

This is where façade design becomes a balancing exercise between competing performance requirements.

• Daylight.
• Solar control.
• Thermal comfort.
• Glare.
• Electricity generation.
• Visual quality.

The 2025 IEA PVPS BIPV guidebook treats daylighting and visual comfort alongside electricity generation and thermal performance, rather than considering photovoltaic output in isolation.

The façade is therefore no longer being optimised around a single number. It is becoming a multi-parameter system.

The vertical surface problem

As buildings become taller and more densely developed, the relationship between available roof area and occupied floor area changes. A high-rise building can contain a very large conditioned floor area while offering a comparatively limited roof surface for photovoltaic generation.

The façade provides another potential solar collection area. But that does not mean every square metre of façade is automatically a good PV surface… Orientation matters. Solar access matters. Shading matters. Façade geometry matters. Temperature and system configuration matter.

The IEA PVPS BIPV guidebook therefore recommends a site and solar-access assessment before determining the annual BIPV generation target and installed capacity. It also includes dedicated guidance for BIPV façade systems.

The underlying proposition remains significant: The vertical envelope is an energy surface that has historically been valued primarily for enclosure. BIPV challenges that assumption.

Then comes the uncomfortable question: what does it cost?

A multifunctional façade can require a higher initial investment than a conventional system. Specialised modules, electrical integration, customised glazing, additional engineering and installation requirements can all affect capital cost.

And the energy produced by the façade is not the only variable. The building also has to account for maintenance, replacement cycles, access, electrical equipment, degradation and end-of-life considerations. This is why the economic case cannot be reduced to:

annual electricity production ÷ initial cost.

The more meaningful calculation is a life-cycle assessment of the façade’s total performance. What does the system cost to manufacture and install? How much conventional façade material does it replace? How much energy does it save? How much electricity does it generate? What are the maintenance requirements? How long will the system operate? What happens when individual components need replacement? And what is the value of the energy over that period?

The IEA PVPS BIPV guidebook explicitly includes sustainability, circularity and life-cycle cost within its recommended BIPV decision-making process, alongside energy-yield assessment and design development.

That is the point at which a façade stops being a simple €/m² calculation.

And the numbers can become interesting

IEA PVPS case studies show why the economic calculation needs to look beyond the photovoltaic component alone.

Its review of BIPV business models found examples where the added cost of large BIPV façades represented only around 1–2% of total building cost. The report also identifies potential value from electricity generation, avoided material costs, sustainability positioning and, in some cases, increased attractiveness to tenants or buyers.

That does not mean every BIPV façade will achieve the same economics. It means the conventional assumption that an energy-generating façade must necessarily represent an entirely additional cost deserves closer examination. The business case depends on how early the technology is incorporated into the project, what building material it replaces, how much electricity can be self-consumed, the building’s energy demand, local electricity prices and the specific characteristics of the façade.

In other words, the economic value is designed into the façade.

So, can a façade pay for itself?

Maybe. But the bigger question is what the façade can return over its lifetime. It can protect, regulate, reduce energy demand and, increasingly, generate electricity.

The question is no longer simply: “How much does the façade cost?” It is: “How much value can it create?”

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The tower’s fully glazed envelope is defined by protruding and recessed cubic volumes, creating a constantly changing appearance when viewed from different angles. Darker recessed glazing contrasts with the principal façade, while horizontal metallic bands reinforce the building’s layered geometry. At the rear, contrasting façade treatments combine darker, more enclosed areas with expansive glazed surfaces, connected visually by continuous vertical aluminium slats.

The façade technology is central to the project’s architectural expression. Reynaers Aluminium supplied highly insulated modular systems, including ConceptWall 50, CW 50-SC and a bespoke ElementFaçade 7 Male-Female solution. The customised ElementFaçade system was fabricated and installed by Garcia Faura SL, a Reynaers partner in Spain.

Sustainability was equally important. The façade’s thermal performance, combined with low-energy solutions and maintenance-conscious technologies, contributed to the tower achieving LEED Gold certification.

Internally, Torre Puig II accommodates 21 office floors, designed for approximately 500 Puig cosmetics employees, together with three basement levels providing 140 parking spaces. The result is a high-performance workplace whose façade combines technical precision, energy efficiency and a strong architectural identity.

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The center brings together six of Mora’s monumental Carrara marble sculptures – The Lions, Liberty, Progress, Work, Peace and Justice. Originally commissioned for Argentina’s National Congress Palace in Buenos Aires in 1906, the sculptures were later moved to Jujuy and spent more than a century exposed to outdoor conditions. The new building provides a permanent environment for their conservation, interpretation and public display.

Glass plays a particularly important architectural role in the project. The building’s narrow entrance progressively expands into a lobby and exhibition hall surrounded by floor-to-ceiling glazing, creating a direct visual connection between the interior galleries and the surrounding forest.

A wide convex glass façade frames views across the Yunga vegetation toward San Salvador de Jujuy and the distant mountain range. Strategically positioned skylights provide additional daylight close to the sculptures, while the open gallery arrangement allows visitors to experience the works from different distances and viewing angles.

The cantilevered roof creates long-span, column-free exhibition spaces, giving the sculptures an unobstructed setting while providing protection from the region’s climate. Rather than separating the museum from its surroundings, the design uses transparency and carefully controlled views to make the landscape part of the visitor experience.

From a façade-performance perspective, the extensive glazing also places greater importance on the building envelope. Pelli Clarke & Partners states that the high-performance envelope and state-of-the-art mechanical systems reduce energy consumption by 23%. The project documentation does not specify the glass make-up, coating, U-value or framing system, so these technical characteristics cannot be assumed.

The center was designed as a net-zero energy building and achieved a LEED Gold certification objective. Its renewable-energy strategy combines an extensive photovoltaic system, solar collectors and wind turbines. On-site generation is designed to produce 120% of the building’s annual energy consumption.

Water management forms another part of the environmental strategy. Rainwater is collected for landscape irrigation, while small dams capture and slow runoff through the site’s ravine, helping mitigate erosion.

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The facade of the classroom and laboratory block is the defining architectural element. During the executive design phase, AAA office revised the elevations to improve visual comfort, natural lighting and the overall environmental quality of the learning spaces.

Expanded glazed surfaces and vertical ribbon windows create a strong rhythm across the elevations, while establishing visual connections with the surrounding fields, tree rows and vineyards.

The east and west facades incorporate steel structures designed to support climbing vegetation, introducing seasonal shading and reinforcing the relationship between architecture and landscape.

The facade composition, simple volumes and restrained finishes deliberately draw from the character of the Emilian countryside rather than conventional school architecture.

The building’s above-ground structure is constructed entirely in timber using X-Lam technology, supporting the project’s Near Zero Energy Building (NZEB) performance. Ground-floor classrooms open directly onto the gardens, extending the learning environment outdoors.

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The façade is the defining construction element. Approximately 5,000 m² of metal façade supports 11,000 hammered stainless-steel bricks, each individually positioned. Behind them are around 300 metal panels, forming a complex envelope whose geometry changes across the height of the tower. The façade was developed by Eiffage Métal, working within a consortium, while Citynox FACADE was responsible for the stainless-steel façade fabrication. According to ConstruirAcier, approximately 50,000 hours of engineering studies were required to coordinate the structure and façade.

The structural and engineering work involved Setec, T/E/S/S atelier d’ingénierie, Terrell Group and Studios Architecture, with T/E/S/S contributing to the façade engineering. VINCI Construction France led the main contracting consortium, alongside Eiffage Métal, Crudeli and Vinci Energies. The project management support was provided by MYAMO, while Bureau Bas Smets developed the landscape surrounding the building.

The geometry required a different approach to conventional construction documentation. Eiffage states that the studies were developed entirely in 3D, creating a direct connection between the architectural plans, structural calculations and fabrication drawings. The structural system uses a concrete core with steel framing and highly irregular floor plates; according to ConstruirAcier, practically every level has a different configuration.

Glass plays an equally important role. The tower contains 53 projecting glass boxes, each differently oriented to frame views across Arles. At ground level, the circular Drum forms a glazed rotunda approximately 54 metres in diameter and 16–18 metres high, incorporating around 670 tonnes of glazing. The space provides the main transparent threshold between the tower and the landscaped park and was designed as a naturally ventilated reception area.

Inside the 15,000 m² building are exhibition galleries, offices, archives, event spaces and a 1,000 m² column-free Main Gallery. The tower also contains a 150-seat auditorium and panoramic terraces.

In 2023, Eiffage Métal received the European Convention for Constructional Steelwork’s Special Award – Manufacturing, recognising the engineering and fabrication of the stainless-steel envelope.

LUMA Arles is therefore not simply a Gehry landmark. It is a project defined by the coordination of 11,000 stainless-steel units, 53 glass boxes, 5,000 m² of metal façade, 670 tonnes of glazing and approximately 50,000 engineering hours, with the final appearance depending on the precise relationship between design, structure, fabrication and installation.

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The building measures approximately 80 metres in diameter and 100 metres in height, with around 24,000 m² of floor space across eight levels. Its defining feature is the façade: approximately 4,600 individually engineered curved glass panels covering around 35,000 m².

The objective was to create a smooth glass sphere, rather than a faceted structure assembled from flat panels. This required the development of double-curved glass, with individual units formed in three dimensions to follow the geometry of the building.

Each panel was effectively a bespoke component. The glass was heated in specially developed ovens until it became sufficiently pliable to take the shape of a mould, before being gradually cooled to retain the required geometry. This manufacturing process was essential to achieving the continuous appearance of the façade.

The scale of the units added another level of complexity. Project information indicates approximately 4,600 curved panes, with maximum panel dimensions of roughly 3 × 6 metres. The glazing was produced as double-curved insulating glass units, incorporating a triple-silver coating and two-colour ceramic screen printing. A reported U-value of approximately 1.1 W/m²K demonstrates that thermal performance was considered alongside the architectural requirements.

For a building with approximately 35,000 m² of glazing, solar performance could not be treated as a secondary consideration.

The façade uses ultra-clear low-iron glass with low-E coating and ceramic frit. The frit pattern varies across the façade to assist with solar control while maintaining daylight and views. Guardian SunGuard SNX 50/23 HT was specified for the glazing, providing solar-control performance suited to the building’s extensive transparent envelope.

The façade was therefore designed to perform a difficult balancing act: admit useful daylight, control glare, limit unwanted solar heat gain and maintain thermal efficiency.

Nur Alem’s façade was also developed as an active component of the building’s energy concept.

The design team used BIM and Rhino/Grasshopper to test different iterations of the building geometry, examining structural behaviour, daylight, energy consumption and solar exposure. This computational approach became particularly important for positioning the building-integrated photovoltaic system.

BIPV cells were incorporated near the top of the sphere, where modelling was used to maximize exposure to the sun. The design-stage energy model predicted approximately 81,056 kWh of electricity generation per year, equivalent to around 2.21% of total energy demand.

The upper portion of the sphere also incorporates two wind turbines. The form of the opening was extensively modelled and tested with wind engineers to capture Astana’s predominant southwest winds while responding to the city’s harsh winter climate. The turbines were predicted to generate approximately 52,700 kWh annually.

The technical achievement of Nur Alem lies in the relationship between its geometry, glass fabrication and building performance.

Its façade combines double-curved insulating glass, low-E solar-control technology, ceramic frit, integrated shading, BIPV and renewable-energy systems within a single architectural envelope. Even the horizontal curtain-wall mullions contribute to the building’s environmental strategy, incorporating radiant heating tubes, LED lighting and a BMS-controlled shading system.

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The building is best known for its Amber Entrance, where approximately 473 individually formed double-curved glass panels create a continuous bronze-ochre enclosure around a deep diagonal opening. The geometry is deliberately irregular: the glazing changes curvature across the surface rather than following a repeated planar module. This required the glass units to be produced to project-specific geometries and coordinated individually with the supporting structure.

Behind the glazing is a diagonal gridshell with a basket-like configuration. Its members form a triangulated structural network that follows the entrance volume, allowing the curved glass to span the opening without relying on a conventional rectilinear framing system. The relationship between the gridshell nodes, glass edges and panel curvature is fundamental to the construction; small deviations in one element would affect the alignment of adjacent panels across the envelope.

The entrance is cut diagonally through the corner of the building and opens toward Hyllie Station Square. The geometry is not merely a surface treatment: the glazed incision forms the principal access route into the shopping centre, extending from the square into a three-storey retail environment organised around a figure-eight plan.

The glazing incorporates products associated with Cricursa, Saflex, Eastman and VetroTech Saint-Gobain, alongside other manufacturers involved in the wider development. The use of compound-curved glass demanded close control of forming, dimensional tolerances and interfaces between the glass and the gridshell. With 473 non-identical panels, fabrication and installation could not depend on a standardised repetitive unit; panel geometry, orientation and position had to remain tightly controlled throughout production and assembly.

The amber coloration gives the entrance its characteristic depth and changes considerably with daylight. Reflections from the sky, surrounding buildings and the movement of clouds across the Öresund region produce variations across the curved surfaces, while the bronze-ochre tone reinforces Wingårdhs’ reference to monumental vaulted architecture and the Pantheon.

Emporia extends the same degree of geometric experimentation into its interior. Retail circulation is arranged around bold atriums in different colours, while oversized terrazzo patterns, custom furniture, cast-glass details and integrated artwork establish a consistent design language. Above the complex, the rooftop incorporates a landscaped park with sedum, prairie grass, trees, terraces and sheltered outdoor areas.

The Amber Entrance remains the technically distinctive component of the 27,000 m² development. Its 473 individually curved glass panels and triangulated gridshell demonstrate the level of geometric control required when architectural form moves beyond flat or single-radius glazing.

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