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Alexandru Gheorghe's Architecture Site
Architecture - Buildings in Copenhagen
Alexandru went to Copenhagen, Denmark, as part of his practice of Architecture course. This is a bank, seen as a very beautiful volume occupying space. It has what is called a double-skin facade, meaning that there is an interior facade of glass that is sealed, with another one over it, with metal insertions, used for ventilation purposes.
Photo and text: Alexandru Gheorghe, 13th April 2012
This maintains a cool atmosphere inside, with less energy needed for its operation than a normal building. The concept is called sustainable architecture, and the building is eco-friendly because it uses less energy to cool itself and to move fresh air around inside than a traditional building.
No screw or other fastening is left at the surface. Joints are made with great accuracy, and the metal parts overlap like scales, which allows the screws to be hidden. Great care was taken with the smallest details to ensure that everything fits perfectly, and leaves no space for water or wind to penetrate.
Photo and text: Alexandru Gheorghe, 13th April 2012
This is an office building, with metal mullions made of Cor-Ten, which is a steel designed to be unpainted or coated in any way. Controlled corrosion is a feature of the product. It was developed in the 1930s primarily for use in railway coal wagons. It began to be used for architectural purposes in the 1960s.
Cor-Ten exhibits superior corrosion resistance over regular carbon steel as a result of the development of a protective oxide film on the metal's surface that slows down further corrosion. The high yield strength allows cost reduction through the ability to design lighter sections into structures. These steels were designed primarily to be used in unpainted applications where a reduction in maintenance costs, such as painting, was desired. Weathering steels are now being used in a variety of applications, including bridges, rail cars, transmission towers, chimneys and shipbuilding. It is also becoming increasingly popular with sculptors and as an architectural feature.
Part of the facade seems to be opaque, although it is exactly the same as the others, because of the angle at which the picture was taken. The mullions, the vertical metal elements in the building, heat up and gradually transfer heat to the other, colder areas of the facade, as the sun changes its position in the sky. As a bonus, they look great.
The round corners were incorporated to give greater strength for the high winds experienced in the area, and because the buildings are not very tall, they decided to have three smaller ones than one huge tower, and last but not least, a very good green space was incorporated in front of the building.
Photo: Alexandru Gheorghe, 13th April 2012
Text: Alexandru Gheorghe, and additional text from http://www.residentialshippingcontainerprimer.com/CorTen
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RC J/263/230/2007 CIF 21464151
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