Presentation of the BE ACTIVE. Innovative Fassadenspiele prototypes.

2025-01-13
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On 26 November 2024, the FAB – Fiandre Architectural Bureau showroom in the Vienna district of Servitenviertel presented two futuristic façade prototypes developed by the architecture and design firms Kim Tien x KENH Architekten (Vienna) and Andrea Redi (AiR) & Brigitte Spurej (GSarchitects) Graz. These projects are the result of the competition “BE ACTIVE. Innovative Fassadenspiele” (BE ACTIVE. Innovative façades), to promote innovative concepts for covering sustainable buildings.

Innovative building coverings for the Green City of the Future

The theme of the competition was the outdoor use of large porcelain stoneware slabs (300x150 cm), studying the properties and potential these high-quality materials and surfaces offer in combination with Active Surfaces®. It particularly investigated the fields of application for restructuring and restoring existing buildings. The aim was to develop solutions for innovative façades meeting both functional and aesthetic requirements for urban spaces of the future. In addition to identifying new applications for façade systems, the competition offers the possibility for a common development of new surfaces, colours and products.

The use of porcelain stoneware slabs in façade systems offers many benefits: the material is strong, lasting, easy to maintain and gives the buildings a very special appearance.

WINNING PROJECTS

Heritage – Play!
Kim Tien x KENH Architekten (Vienna)

Industrial and commercial buildings in the Po Valley are often monotonous and indistinguishable from each other. In most cases, these buildings – as well as the sample model – appear as foreign bodies in the landscape, with practically no reference to the rich architectural heritage of northern Italy. Kim Tien x KENH Architekten wanted to develop a structured ventilated façade, to make a modular system integrating decorative mechanical fixing points. 
“Heritage – Play!” has led to a family of façades reinterpreting the historical forms, colours and geometries of Emilia-Romagna, bringing them into the future. In line with the local historical model, “Heritage – Play!” uses a geometrical design with archetypal forms and a clear grid that can be reworked to minimise waste.  The residual pieces are used for lofts or for levelling windows, adding strength to the façade and completely and economically exploiting all the pieces of the slabs: Let’s play!
www.kenh.at

BEE active
Andrea Redi, AiR & Brigitte Spurej, GSarchitects (Graz)

The concept involves the activation of the façade on several levels, also offering a new vital space for bees. The existing façade is restored with a 10-centimetre insulation with rear ventilation and covered with high-quality Active Surfaces® ceramics. “Traces” of branches are printed on the “Urban White Active” surface to be subsequently filled with plants. The engraved ceramics are only the start of this story: the aim is to grow an orchard, where the trees can continue to grow and bear fruits. Different types of fruit trees, including lemons, oranges, apples, pears and figs, will be planted on espaliers 10 centimetres from the façade. The branches will grow along the printed grooves.  Steel profiles with a coconut fibre cord at one end will surround the branches and train them in the required direction.

A root structure measuring 0.5 x 1,00 m in front of the façade will be carefully separated from the wall, up to a depth of 1.2 metres. The plants are planted in the ground, so the roots can continue to grow in the soil below. Rainwater will be collected and used to irrigate the plants. In addition, in the warm weather, a high-pressure spray system driven by sensors with (5-millimetre) nozzles arranged along the gaps in the façade sprays outwards to irrigate the trees on the espaliers. This will not only water the plants but will also cool the stone and the surrounding air. The façade will be tended by a gardener and the fruit will be harvested by him or by passers-by. The spray system not only provides water to the plants during the hot weather but also cools and cleans the surrounding air.
www.gsarchitects.at

Panel:Bettina Kraus, Kraus Fischnaller Architekten, Berlin
Francesco Scanu, Area-17, Florence
Participating architecture and design firms:Andrea Redi (AiR)&Brigitte Spuraj (GSarchitects), Kim Tien x KENH Architekten, Nerma Linsberger, LUCY D., Martin Mostböck, RLP Rüdiger Rainer + Partner, Söhne & Partner

Prototypes made by Iris Ceramica Group, Fiandre & Granitech
Concept and organisation: Manuela Hötzl, redaktionsbuero architektur