Spanish firm Roldán + Berengué has recently built a public housing tower in Barcelona. While the building rises 16 storys above the ground, the form appears to divide into 5 levels. Superficial facades composed of 3 different metal materials emphasize the reading the of "levels" over the actual floors. The motivation behind this move seem to be to scale the building down. The 5-story primitive form inflates to contain 15 floors of subsidized flats (plus the first story, which that entire mass hovers over). The tower stands alone beside a wide public square, leaving the building to deal with its massive size any way that it can.
The idea seems relatively straight forward. The success of the effect can only truly be appraised when seen in person. As we've learned from lower Manhattan, one's ability to interpret facade components of tall buildings depends on where you're standing, or are able to stand. With this in mind, perhaps this treatment is appropriate in such a wide open setting. We found that facade elements which scale can seem bizarre if one was to crane their neck backward and look up to see them.
Are Roldán + Berengué's 5 levels mistakable for floors? Maybe this effect does work near to the building. The strong horizontal lines would compress if viewed from a sharp upward angle and the actual windows might de-emphasize further. How would lower Manhattan look if its skyscrapers were designed this way?
Source: ArchDaily
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