Heavy: > 125 kg/m2

Glass blanket (099)

There is little to say about such a glass façade. A steel-profiles mesh covers everyday life like a blanket.

Arborescent exoskeleton (093)

Load bearing facades are nowadays a common solution due to the permeability they permit in the inner space. Some of those structures are let to be seen from the outside, some of them are not. 

Order in the variation vs. disorder in constancy (098)

The Hotel Constanza is part of the Illa Diagonal complex. Like the main building, the facade is covered with a travertine rain screen. The narrowness of the drainage cavity is striking, but is interrupted by the lack of cleanliness of the insulation surrounding the fixings.

Two windows meeting in one corner (095)

There are lots of things to say of each of the buildings we publish in this website. However, from the beginning we decided to focus just in one aspect or curiosity for each of them. 

ETICS and light hanged claddings: just beginning (094)

ETICS solutions, which are now so common due to the thermal insulation continuity they allow, were already used twenty-five years ago in designs such as the MACBA building. At that time, achieving continuous rendering without joints was not that simple, as the rendering materials were not as good as the ones we use today.

Lightweight solutions for the rainscreen outer layer were barely known. Probably because the architects did not trust this solution, the inner wall was completely covered with a watertight membrane.

The wise decision of being discreet (091)

This could not be more adequate.

It is wise in the decision of being discreet, and acute in the selection of all systems and materials. The expertise of the architects as constructors is shown in the accurate design of all the points of relation between the systems and elements.

Non continuous solution, continuous image (090)

A very interesting building.

The continuity of the envelope on the façade and roof is only formal, not constructive. The façade solves water tightness by means of a drained cavity, while the roof does so using an absolutely waterproof material. From the outside, they look the same.

Small sice cuttings (087)

In the façade solution of this building we want to draw attention to two factors:

Between steel ribs (085)

Awarded the Pritzker in architecture, the value of this work is undeniable from a formal perspective. However, doubts arise when we consider the functional aspects of thermal and lighting comfort in a Mediterranean climate at 41 degrees latitude.