With the ongoing developments in the glass industry, the possibilities for glass façades are rapidly increasing. Architects seem to benefit from this, by designing façades in free-form shapes that were almost impossible to realise in glass only some years ago. In this blog, I will show you the possibilities of free-form glass façade design using VR-experiences.
Free-form shapes
One example of a free-form shaped façade is the double curved façade of Depot Boijmans van Beuningen, designed by MVRDV and soon to be realised as a public art depot featuring exhibition halls in Rotterdam. This spherical shaped building will be acting as one huge mirror. But how do you manage the esthetical quality in these kinds of façades?
One of the major issues is the alignment of the glass to act as one smooth surface, including tolerances. Now, with help of advanced computational design and virtual reality (VR), the architect is given the opportunity to determine what is aesthetically acceptable. At the same time, the client can determine what from his point of view is acceptable, since a smoother surface inevitably affects the overall price for tightening up the tolerances. VR-experiences could help in the dialogue between contractor, architect and client in an early stage of the design process, to satisfy design conditions like costs and construction possibilities.
Parametric design
Due to the complex shape of this façade and the highly repetitive panelling, the use of the computational design solution parametric design was chosen.
