Hualien Theater Facade:
Perforated Steel Facade System
The Entertainment Theater facade is a project I completed at Pentagram in 2015 with partner Natasha Jen. The design is a schematic proposal for a perforated steel facade currently being developed in Hualien, Taiwan. The facade is being installed in relationship to an existing window wall system. Because cinema and karaoke theaters surround the periphery of the building (thus negating the need for windows), the facade is intended to unify the building aesthetically rather than filter or screen light to the interior. Below are 2 schemes presented to the client, who asked us to study waves as a motif that relates to the coastal landscape of the building site.
Scheme 1
The design takes a pictorial approach to the perforation design, which presents an interpretation of the Japanese woodblock print by Hokusai, "The Great Wave off Kanagawa." The dynamism and movement of the perforated design is intended to relate the otherwise stark building with the surrounding sea-shore.
Scheme 2
In this scheme, each horizontal band of the design is treated as a kind of force-field, with the opaque portions of the bands representing a dynamic vector or acceleration forwards. The bands translate the form of the vector into gradients, applied as the perforation pattern on the panels.
