2014 | Clifford V. Gayley, FAIA, Principal | Process
Our practice centers on creating buildings that celebrate the egalitarian values of democracy and engage the public realm with places that are accessible, active, and inviting.
Whether designing a library, a courthouse, a temple, or a classroom building, we have found that transparency is a powerful catalyst for achieving openness and welcome, and for strengthening connections within a community of fellow citizens.
From the outside, transparency strengthens a building’s public role by showcasing interior activity that can energize the adjacent street or urban park and can convey a sense of accessibility to diverse constituents (an especially important attribute for civic buildings).
From the inside, transparency allows interior spaces to define new connections to the outdoors: opening to the immediate landscape or urban setting; opening to daylight and its natural fluctuations (improving energy performance and personal well being); and creating an immersive experience where one feels alive and self-aware.
Inside and outside, transparency can create memorable, uplifting places that gather members of a community in all of their diversity—fundamentally important at a time when our virtual connectedness allows us to be more physically removed from one another.
Through our years of practice and research, we have developed a deep understanding of the particular design decisions and evolving technologies that allow greater precision in achieving real transparency. To achieve real transparency, we say that glass is not enough. We can all think of buildings with tinted glass that are quite opaque.
We have found that achieving perceivable transparency involves seven factors:
• Glass Type (selecting clear, high performance glass);
• Glass Support (maximizing the thinness of aluminum and steel elements supporting glass);
• Structure (de-coupling structural elements from the glass wall);
• Lighting (balancing interior and exterior light levels; e.g. backlighting, daylighting);
• Shading (increasing thermal comfort and minimizing glare with interior or exterior shading);
• Program (organizing the building to have its active uses along the glass wall);
• Mock-ups (verifying the combined visual effects of building elements at full scale).
Five case studies document the results of our ongoing research into the phenomenon of transparency in a range of public building types:
CASE STUDY 1: A LIBRARY — Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge, MA
The Cambridge Public Library uses an all-glass front facade to redefine the public library as an open, flexible, and welcoming place of opportunity. At 40 feet tall by 180 feet long, the glass facade activates a major civic park by featuring continuous and highly populated reading areas on the first and second floor. With its emphasis on using transparency to connect the city park with active interior uses, this new building offers a powerful contrast to the earlier vision of library as retreat, withdrawn from the city.
To ensure the highest degree of transparency, we used double-skin curtain wall technology. This innovative, sustainable enclosure system includes two walls of glass separated by a three foot air space. Within the air space are twelve-inch deep, adjustable, micro-perforated sun shades. These shades trap solar heat before it enters the building interior, allowing the glass to be clear and low-iron (the most transparent that glass can be) To maximize patrons’ thermal comfort along the interior of the glass wall, solar heat within the air space is managed: during the summer, the air space acts as a multi-story flue naturally exhausting heat through open vents top and bottom; during the winter, these vents are closed, trapping heated air which serves as a thermal blanket for the building. For visual comfort, the adjustable shades reflect light onto the ceiling to enhance daylighting and reduce glare.
The construction of the double skin is designed to reinforce transparency. All the steel and aluminum glass supports are designed with minimal profiles. A slender ladder truss supports the double-skin curtain wall elements from within the air space, adding a shimmer that enhances the sense of transparency from the outside. The building’s columns are held back from the exterior wall by 15 feet to maximize the sense of transparency from the interior looking out.
Because this double skin is the first of its particular type in the United States (3-foot multi-story flue with 12-inch adjustable louvers), we conducted significant research, including visits to twelve overseas examples of the double-skin curtain wall in Germany and the United Kingdom, where this technology is well established. From that research, we developed a low maintenance version, well suited for public maintenance budgets.
CASE STUDY 2: A COURTHOUSE United States Courthouse, Cedar Rapids, IA
In a place of justice, transparency can make visible the democratic values of openness, fairness, and due process, and also meet the need for heightened security. This Federal Courthouse achieves transparency at a city scale, using a 100-foot tall by 300-foot long glass facade. This glass wall reveals double-height public circulation areas leading to the building’s courtrooms (two per floor). The courtroom entries become part of the facade, highlighting the accessibility of the judicial system to its citizens. Highly visible as the terminus of a major street and along the river front, the building serves as an inviting beacon for civic life.
For this north-facing facade, transparency begins with the selection of clear, high performance glass. Very large glass sizes set to industry maximums limit the number of aluminum elements in the glass curtain wall. Blast resistant glass (a special requirement of this program) is integrated into the curtain wall. One-hundred-foot-tall stainless-steel-clad columns stand in front of and independent of the sheer glass wall, adding to the facade’s sense of layered transparency. Interior light levels enhance the sense of transparency: extensive daylighting fills the tall, shallow lobby space, accentuated by backlighting from a major interior ‘portal’ (45 feet wide by 100 feet tall) as well as continuous skylights.
CASE STUDY 3: A TEMPLE — Temple Beth Elohim, Wellesley, MA
For a place of worship, significant transparency in the sanctuary helps create an immersive experience for both individual refection and community engagement. With two 36-foot tall glass walls, this sanctuary is infused with balanced natural light that changes throughout the day. One glass wall opens out to an entry courtyard the same dimensions as the sanctuary, while the other looks through a wood screen towards a forested landscape. From the building’s approach, the sanctuary’s sheer transparency projects this community’s welcoming, egalitarian, and participatory values.
The enclosure of the sanctuary is carefully calibrated to maximize the experience of transparency. The two large glass walls are positioned to illuminate (sidelight) two solid walls, balancing daylight and reducing glare on the inside, while making the interior more visible and thus transparent from the outside.
The curtain wall structure is held off from the glass wall, allowing dappled light to flow between multiple slender vertical elements. Slender perimeter columns every 5 feet, integrated with the curtain wall, replace the more typical large diameter columns. In this way, building structure seems to disappear.
CASE STUDY 4: AN ACADEMIC BUILDING — Tata Hall, Harvard Business school, Boston, MA
For a place of learning, transparency can create a powerful setting with formal and informal spaces for teaching collaboration, break out, group study, and individual study. At the Harvard Business School, a two-story transparent base for its new Executive Education building brings a decidedly contemporary experience to this Georgian campus. This major glass enclosure [32 feet high by 300 feet long (facing the river) and 32 feet by 80 feet (facing the campus)] opens active uses of the lower two academic floors directly to a new campus quad and to views towards the Charles River.
Greater transparency is achieved by extensive use of double-skin technology.
Like the Cambridge Public Library, this double-skin is a three-foot-deep multi-story flue, with vents top and bottom and with adjustable shades. Its inner construction is considerably lighter than that of the Library, using thin stainless steel cables and struts to support the curtain wall glazing. The cantilevered structure allows building columns to be hidden in solid walls and where exposed, to be treated as ‘ladder’ columns that are themselves ‘see through.’
A large atrium (70 feet wide by 32 feet tall) provides significant backlighting, which balances interior daylighting and enhances the experience of transparency, literally framing views through the building.
CASE STUDY 5: AN ACADEMIC BUILDING — Building H, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
At Northeastern University, transparency reinforces a university’s commitment to engaging its host city. The sixteen-story Building H faces Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and helps anchor the university and its new West Campus to Huntington Avenue and the cultural life of the city.
A 220-foot tall and 110-foot wide north-facing glass wall reveals the building’s mixed-use program to the city, with the College of Computer and Information Science on its lower four floors and student apartments above. Reflecting the Dean’s goal of generating a culture of collaboration, spaces with the best views overlooking the city are dedicated to group meeting and informal gathering, bringing researchers, faculty, and students together.
Transparency is created by the use of a high-performance, unitized curtain wall. Backlighting of protruding bays along both sides heightens transparency in gathering spaces at all sixteen floors, both academic and residential.
These five projects demonstrate a variety of ways that the seven factors mentioned earlier help amplify a building’s transparency well beyond the simple use of glass. And this amplified transparency helps celebrate a building’s sense of welcome—its civic character.
This essay was originally published in the firm monograph William Rawn Associates Architects by William Rawn Associates, Architects, Inc.
©The Images Publishing Group Pty Ltd 2014
A full copy of the monograph can be purchased here:
Photo Credits: Robert Benson Photography, Bruce T Martin Photography, Alan Karchmer
Clifford V. Gayle, Mkurugenzi, FAIA, mchakato: Mazoezi yetu yanazingatia kujenga majengo ambayo huadhimisha maadili ya usawa wa demokrasia na kushiriki katika uwanja wa umma na maeneo ambayo yanapatikana, hai, na kualika. Kama kubuni maktaba, mahakama, hekalu, au darasa jengo, tumegundua kwamba uwazi ni kichocheo nguvu kwa ajili ya kufikia uwazi na kukaribisha, na kwa ajili ya kuimarisha uhusiano ndani ya jamii ya wananchi wenzake. Kutoka nje, uwazi huimarisha jukumu la umma la jengo kwa kuonyesha shughuli za ndani ambazo zinaweza kuimarisha barabara ya karibu au bustani ya mijini na zinaweza kutoa hisia ya upatikanaji kwa wanachama mbalimbali (sifa muhimu hasa kwa majengo ya kiraia). Kutoka ndani, uwazi inaruhusu nafasi za ndani kuamua uhusiano mpya na nje: kufungua kwa mazingira ya karibu au mazingira ya mijini; kufungua kwa mwanga wa mchana na mabadiliko yake ya asili (kuongeza utendaji wa nishati na ustawi wa kibinafsi); na kuunda uzoefu wa kuzamisha ambapo mtu anahisi hai na kujitambua. Ndani na nje, uwazi unaweza kuunda mahali pa kukumbukwa, mahali pa kufurahisha ambayo hukusanya wanachama wa jamii katika utofauti wao wote - muhimu sana wakati muunganisho wetu wa virtual unatuwezesha kuondolewa zaidi kimwili kutoka kwa kila mmoja. Kupitia miaka yetu ya mazoezi na utafiti, tumeendeleza uelewa wa kina wa maamuzi maalum ya kubuni na teknolojia zinazoendelea ambazo huruhusu usahihi mkubwa katika kufikia uwazi halisi. Ili kufikia uwazi wa kweli, tunasema kwamba kioo haitoshi. Sisi sote twaweza kufikiria majengo yenye kioo chenye rangi ambacho si wazi kabisa. "Kutumia kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha kioo cha • Shading (kuongeza joto starehe na kupunguza mwangaza na shading ndani au nje); • Programu (kuandaa jengo kuwa na matumizi yake ya kazi kando ya ukuta kioo); • Mock-ups (kuhakikisha pamoja athari za kuona ya vipengele vya jengo kwa kiwango kamili). "Hii ni kwa sababu ya utafiti wa utafiti wa ""Utafiti wa kesi ya kwanza: Maktaba ya Umma ya Cambridge"" ambayo ilifanya maktaba ya umma kuwa nafasi ya wazi, rahisi na ya kukaribisha." Kwa urefu wa mita 40 kwa urefu wa mita 180, uso wa kioo unafanya kazi ya bustani kubwa ya kiraia kwa kuonesha maeneo ya kusoma ya kuendelea na yenye watu wengi kwenye ghorofa ya kwanza na ya pili. Kwa msisitizo wake juu ya kutumia uwazi kuunganisha bustani ya jiji na matumizi ya ndani ya kazi, jengo hili jipya linatoa tofauti kubwa na maono ya awali ya maktaba kama kurudi nyuma, kujiondoa kutoka kwa jiji. Ili kuhakikisha kiwango cha juu cha uwazi, tulitumia teknolojia ya ukuta wa pazia la ngozi mbili. Mfumo huu wa ubunifu, wa kudumu wa kifuniko unatia ndani kuta mbili za kioo zilizotenganishwa na nafasi ya hewa ya futi tatu. Ndani ya nafasi ya hewa ni inchi kumi na mbili kina, adjustable, micro-perforated sunshades. Hizi shades trap joto jua kabla ya kuingia ndani ya jengo, kuruhusu kioo kuwa wazi na chini ya chuma (wazi zaidi kwamba kioo inaweza kuwa) ili kuongeza wateja joto starehe pamoja na mambo ya ndani ya ukuta kioo, joto jua ndani ya nafasi ya hewa ni kusimamiwa: wakati wa majira ya joto, nafasi ya hewa vitendo kama flue multi-storey asili exhausting joto kupitia vents wazi juu na chini; wakati wa majira ya baridi, vents hizi ni kufungwa, trapping hewa joto ambayo hutumika kama blanketi ya joto kwa ajili ya jengo. Kwa ajili ya starehe ya kuona, vivuli vinavyoweza kurekebishwa huonyesha nuru kwenye dari ili kuboresha nuru ya mchana na kupunguza mwangaza. Ujenzi wa ngozi mbili ni iliyoundwa ili kuimarisha uwazi. Vituo vyote vya chuma na alumini vinavyounga mkono kioo vimeundwa kwa maelezo machache. Truss nyembamba ya ngazi inasaidia vipengele vya ukuta wa pazia la ngozi mbili kutoka ndani ya nafasi ya hewa, ikiongeza mwangaza ambao huongeza hisia ya uwazi kutoka nje. Nguzo za jengo hilo zimejengwa kwa urefu wa mita 15 kutoka ukutani wa nje ili kuongeza hisia ya uwazi kutoka ndani. Kwa sababu ngozi hii mbili ni ya kwanza ya aina yake maalum nchini Marekani (moto wa mita tatu na matabaka mengi na louvers za 12 za adjustable), tulifanya utafiti mkubwa, ikiwa ni pamoja na ziara za mifano kumi na mbili ya ngome ya pazia la ngozi mbili nchini Ujerumani na Uingereza, ambapo teknolojia hii imeanzishwa vizuri. Kutokana na utafiti huo, tulitengeneza toleo la matengenezo ya chini, linalofaa kwa bajeti za matengenezo ya umma. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika makala ya kwanza ya kitabu cha ""A Courthouse"" cha Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Marekani, ""Katika mahali pa haki, uwazi unaweza kuifanya iwe wazi maadili ya kidemokrasia ya uwazi, haki, na utaratibu sahihi, na pia kukidhi mahitaji ya usalama ulioongezeka.""" Jengo la Mahakama ya Shirikisho la Marekani limetengeneza jengo la kioo lenye urefu wa mita 30 kwa mita 100. Ukuta huu wa kioo unaonyesha maeneo ya mzunguko wa umma yenye urefu mara mbili inayoongoza kwenye vyumba vya mahakama vya jengo hilo (viwili kwa kila ghorofa). Vituo vya mahakama vinakuwa sehemu ya uso, vikikazia upatikanaji wa mfumo wa mahakama kwa raia wake. Jengo hilo linaonekana sana kwa kuwa ni mwisho wa barabara kuu na kando ya mto, na linavutia watu wengi. Kwa ajili ya hii kaskazini-kuangalia facade, uwazi huanza na uteuzi wa wazi, juu ya utendaji kioo. Ukubwa mkubwa sana kioo kuweka kwa sekta ya juu kupunguza idadi ya vipengele alumini katika kioo pazia ukuta. Kioo cha kuzuia mlipuko (mahitaji maalum ya programu hii) ni jumuishi katika ukuta pazia. Nguzo zenye urefu wa meta mia moja zilizofunikwa kwa chuma kisicho na kutu zinasimama mbele na kwa kujitegemea kwa ukuta wa kioo, zikiongeza hisia ya uwazi wa tabaka za uso. Viwango vya mwanga wa ndani huongeza hisia ya uwazi: mwanga wa mchana mkubwa hujaza nafasi ya juu, ya chini ya ukumbi, iliyoongezwa na taa ya nyuma kutoka kwa 'portal' kuu ya ndani (45 futi pana kwa futi 100 juu) pamoja na skylights ya kuendelea. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika kitabu cha ""The Temple of Beth Elohim"" cha Wellesley, MA, ""Kwa mahali pa ibada, uwazi mkubwa katika patakatifu husaidia kuunda uzoefu wa kuzamisha kwa ajili ya tafakari ya mtu binafsi na ushiriki wa jamii.""" Kwa kuwa kuna ukuta wa kioo wenye urefu wa mita 11, mahali hapa pana nuru ya kawaida ambayo hubadilika-badilika kila siku. Ukuta mmoja wa kioo unafunguka kwenye ua wa kuingia wenye ukubwa uleule wa patakatifu, huku ule mwingine ukiangalia kupitia kioo cha mbao kuelekea mandhari yenye misitu. Kutoka kwa mbinu ya jengo, uwazi wa patakatifu huonyesha maadili ya jamii hii ya kukaribisha, usawa, na ushiriki. Sehemu iliyofungwa ya patakatifu imepangwa kwa uangalifu ili kuongeza uzoefu wa uwazi. Kuta mbili kubwa za kioo zimewekwa ili kuangaza (mwangaza wa upande) kuta mbili thabiti, kusawazisha mwanga wa mchana na kupunguza mwangaza ndani, wakati wa kufanya mambo ya ndani yaonekane zaidi na hivyo kuwa wazi kutoka nje. Muundo wa ukuta wa pazia unashikiliwa kutoka kwa ukuta wa kioo, ukiruhusu nuru iliyotiwa madoa itirire kati ya vipengele vingi vilivyoinuka. Safu ndogo za mviringo kila mita 5, zilizounganishwa na ukuta wa pazia, zinabadilisha safu za kawaida za kipenyo kikubwa. Kwa njia hiyo, muundo wa jengo huonekana kupotea. """Jengo la Chuo Kikuu"" - Tata Hall, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA - Kwa mahali pa kujifunza, uwazi unaweza kuunda mazingira yenye nguvu na nafasi rasmi na zisizo rasmi za kufundisha ushirikiano, kugawanyika, utafiti wa kikundi, na utafiti wa mtu binafsi." Harvard Business School ina jengo la elimu ya mtendaji lenye ghorofa mbili, na jengo hilo linaonyesha mambo ya kisasa katika chuo hicho. Hii kubwa kioo enclosure [32 futi juu na 300 futi kwa urefu (kuangalia mto) na 32 futi kwa 80 futi (kuangalia chuo kikuu) ] hufungua matumizi ya kazi ya chini ya ghorofa mbili za kitaaluma moja kwa moja kwa chuo kikuu mpya quad na kwa maoni kuelekea Mto Charles. Uwazi mkubwa hupatikana kwa matumizi makubwa ya teknolojia ya ngozi mbili. Kama vile Maktaba ya Umma ya Cambridge, hii double-skin ni tatu-futi-deep multi-storey chimney, na vents juu na chini na na shades adjustable. Jengo lake la ndani ni nyepesi sana kuliko lile la Maktaba, likitumia nyaya nyembamba za chuma cha pua na nguzo za kuunga mkono kioo cha ukuta wa pazia. "Mstari wa juu wa jengo la ""Straight"" unaonekana kama ""Ladder"" na inaonekana kama ""Straight"" na inaonekana kama ""Straight"" na inaonekana kama ""Straight"" na inaonekana kama ""Straight"" na inaonekana kama ""Straight"" na inaonekana kama ""Straight"" na inaonekana kama ""Straight"" na inaonekana kama ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na inaonekana kama ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Straight"" na ""Stra"" na ""Stra"" na ""Stra""." Mfano wa utafiti wa 5 - Jengo la Chuo Kikuu - Chuo Kikuu cha Northeastern, Boston, MA - Uwazi unaimarisha kujitolea kwa chuo kikuu cha kushiriki mji wake wa mwenyeji. Jengo la H lenye orofa kumi na sita linakabiliwa na Jumba la Makumbusho la Sanaa za Boston na husaidia kuunganisha chuo kikuu na Chuo Kikuu chake kipya cha Magharibi kwa Huntington Avenue na maisha ya kitamaduni ya jiji. Ukuta wa kioo wa urefu wa mita 220 na upana wa mita 110 unaelekea kaskazini unafunua programu ya matumizi ya mchanganyiko ya jengo hilo kwa jiji, na Chuo cha Sayansi ya Kompyuta na Habari kwenye ghorofa zake nne za chini na vyumba vya wanafunzi juu. Kuonyesha lengo la Dean la kuzalisha utamaduni wa ushirikiano, nafasi na maoni bora kutazama mji ni wakfu kwa mkutano wa kundi na kukusanyika yasiyo rasmi, kuleta watafiti, kitivo, na wanafunzi pamoja. Uwazi ni kuundwa kwa kutumia ya utendaji wa juu, unitized ukuta pazia. Taa za nyuma za mabwawa yaliyoinuka kando ya pande zote mbili huongeza uwazi katika nafasi za kukusanyika kwenye ghorofa zote kumi na sita, zote mbili za kitaaluma na za makazi. Miradi hii mitano inaonyesha njia mbalimbali ambazo mambo saba yaliyotajwa hapo awali husaidia kuongeza uwazi wa jengo zaidi ya matumizi rahisi ya kioo. Na uwazi huu ulioongezwa husaidia kusherehekea hisia ya jengo la kukaribishwa - tabia yake ya kiraia. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika makala ya kwanza ya jarida la ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"" na ""Wikipedia"""