New Standards in Architectural FacadesWindows are not only a way of looking out at a beautiful scenery but also a way of showing openness. Martijn van Heest explains:
»Look at Holland and Amsterdam, where I grew up: large windows and no curtains is a result of our history of strict calvinistic religion. It is a way of showing that you have nothing to hide, that you are living an honest life.«
In his Bachelors degree from the TU Delft (Delft University of Technology) he worked with elements of surprise, rhythm and routine within architecture. He explains in his project description:
»Facades can be so strict and imposing. I wanted to enable views of whatever you want, whenever you want. Then I found it more interesting to break with that and not enable or promise anything with my design. To be irrational or undefinable.«
Martijn van Heest has created a facade and worked with a technology similar to that of polaroid glasses: when you hold two glasses in front of each other, you see through. If you turn one of the glasses 90 degrees, the view is blocked. The whole facade is constructed with a double layer, blocking the view from the outside. Suspended on an overhead crane on the outside of the facade, is a movable window.
It contributes with the effect of turning one polaroid glass 90 degrees, enabling a view and making the facade transparent.
The window is controlled by the people's movement inside the building and moves randomly over the facade, thus making the building look inhabited at all times. By moving independently over the the building's structure, it is blurring the position of the floor slabs from the outside. It also eliminates the facade by making it both closed and open at different times.
»The facade is the building's skin, a defense, protection or border. My randomly moving window then becomes an insecurity. The facade no longer protect you but reveals you.«
Maybe Martijn van Heest has developed a new standard for a governmental building or another organisation in need of communicating transparency?
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Photographer: Andreas Nyquist