Page 51 - Between light and shade

Light, transparency and reflection

tive elements, as with the features of openings
and solid sections of the masonry wall.

This empty space may be external (in a
temperate environment) or enclosed by a second
transparent envelope protecting the first (a
“double skin”) where, for whatever reason, the
first envelope alone is not able to guarantee one
of the desired performances, whether this relates
to safety or protection from the cold, heat, rain,
wind, dust or noise, or even where the buffer
space between two glazed areas is used for conve-
nience or for a functional reason.

Beyond my quest for natural light and trans-
parency, since 1987 the search for the best energy
performance has led me towards large glazed
facades 41 whose depth is either achieved by exter-
nal features or a double skin, as appropriate.

Both options play with light and shade, trans-
parency and reflection.

After three unsuccessful proposals 42, in 1989
I was allowed to design the first building with a
double skin and to complete it, in 1992-1993, at

41 The idea of a rigid brick cladding suspended in front of an
increasingly thick layer of soft insulation, which is also subject
to thermal shock, runs counter to my instincts as a builder. It
is only in recent years that the terracotta industry has finally
been producing flush claddings made from small flat “flexible”
tiles, allowing me to once again envisage using them.
42 Extension of the Banque Bruxelles Lambert on Avenue Marnix

in Brussels (p: 1987. 01/183) — Extension of the Solvay Research
Centre in Neder-over-Hembeek (p: 1987. 01/190) — Euroclear
Operations Centre, Brussels; (p: 1988. 01/204). The thermal

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