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Three different facade systems for the City of Justice in Las Palmas

03/10/2018

Riventi built three different façade systems for the city of Justice in Las Palmas. This building, the work of NRED architects, was a major challenge at all levels, from the constructive definition of some elements to their assembly on site, mainly due to the logistical and time requirements that a work of this size entails in the Canary Islands.

BRISE-SOLEIL SYSTEM ON NORTH AND SOUTH FACADES

To unify the different volumes that make up the building, the architects designed a skin that surrounds them like a grid, which serves different functions. They wanted to provide views from all points of the building, in this case towards the sea through the courtyards, by means of a curtain wall with integrated structural carpentry that also allows natural cross ventilation from north to south. In addition, the protection of the curtain wall was guaranteed by a brise-soleil system of anodized aluminum slats that integrated pieces of various colors in a "zigzag-rhythm." The studied inclination of these slats allowed the reflection of the colored elements located at the top of each of the slats on the slat immediately above, this generates a gradient color effect that characterizes the building. The choice of colors based on the orientation of the façade contributes to the uniform distribution and balances the color range.

SOUTH-EAST FACADE FACING THE SEA

The building has a very open façade towards the sea, in the basement area with a curtain wall that is completely continuous, however in the upper sections a curtain wall with a buttoned system was built, in continuity with the wall of the lower section, and as a second skin over a concrete façade that is punctually open. These openings are not visible during the day, it is at night, when the light from the interior of the building is revealed to the outside, through the silk-screened glass.

WEST FACADE

This is the façade closest to the residential buildings, so the architects sought a more closed but permeable concept. This façade was created with a system of aluminium slats with different inclinations that recall the movement of the waves of the sea, and behave like a large Venetian blind.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

As with the rest of the building, the energy efficiency of the three façade systems was one of the issues that the architects had focused on the most. The entire environmental strategy of the building works thanks to the arrangement of the shading elements, the cross ventilation through opening systems with structural carpentry at different levels, the search for natural light and the ventilated chamber generated by the double skins, metal on the west façade and glass on the east, for cooling the whole.

Below are two details, one of the west facade solution and another of the north and south facade solutions.