This Swiss Cancer Institute Keeps Out The Sun With A Continuous Aluminum Screen

5/31/2021 This Swiss cancer institute keeps out the sun with a continuous aluminum screen
This Swiss cancer institute keeps out the sun with a continuous aluminum screen
ARCHITECTURE ART DESIGN URBANISM AN INTERIOR AWARDS EVENTS SUBSCRIBE
alpine views
This Swiss cancer institute keeps out the sun

with a continuous aluminum screen
By
Matthew Marani •
March 22, 2019
•
Facades+
The AGORA Pôle de Recherche Sur le Cancer is located in Lausanne, Switzerland,

the largest city in the French Canton of Vaud. (David Matthiessen)
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This Swiss cancer
of the facility—dubbed institute
“AGORA” keeps to
in homage outthe
theancient
sun withGreek
a continuous aluminum screen
sphere of public assembly—is topped with a semi-translucent
ETFE canopy.
“AGORA was our first effort at developing a stationary, responsive

solar shading system, which developed out of the original
competition design,” said Behnisch Partner Robert Matthew
Noblett. “The concept is essentially moving the sophisticated
technology involved in responding to solar angles that change
throughout the day and year and deploying it on the design side
in the form of parametric modeling and fabrication, optimizing
shading elements according to orientation and season.”
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The continuous aluminum sunscreen varies aperture widths across the facade.
(Courtesy David Matthiessen)
The second skin of the building consists of a Facade
continuous aluminum screen that runs across Manufacturer &

Installer
the underlying glazed facade. Each of the facade’s Sottas SA, Bulle

Architects
nine distinct planes is shaded with a unique Behnisch

Architekten
variation of the screen; the skin on the north has
Facade
relatively large openings while that on the south Consultants

Emmer Pfenninger
is more constrained. The panels consist of two Partner
Transsolar
folded aluminum pieces joined together to resist KlimaEngineering
bending. Location
Lausanne,
Switzerland
Date of
Completion
2018
System
Window hinges in
plaster facade with
folded aluminum
panels as sun
protection
Products
Schueco Fenster-
Systeme
The Queen's 95th Birthday
Westminster Collection Open
For the shading requirements of the building, Behnisch

Architekten developed a set of parametric guidelines for Rhino,
Grasshopper, and AutoCAD. The length of the “P” line, the
protruding-perforated aluminum flap, was determined by the “V”
plane perpendicular to the facade, and the “H” plane parallel to
the facade. After producing scores of digital simulations for sun
and heat protection, light enhancement and glare, the design
team built multiple physical models that were tested under
artificial lighting.
“The optimization of the facade is controlled both by the aperture

and its orientation, which respond to the orientation of the glass
surface and its type of glass,” said the design team. “The same
solar performance can be achieved for every given angle of the
sun with an array of different geometries that offer all the
different view openings and qualities.”
The design team followed parametric guidelines to establish the width of the
screen’s aperture per facade plane. (Courtesy Behnisch Architekten)
The second skin is located approximately 2.6 feet from the inner
facade, allowing for the insertion of a maintenance catwalk and
over half-a-foot of space for the secondary structure supporting
the shading panels. The secondary structure is composed of a
series of diagonal steel rails running parallel to each other. Every
short end of the panels are connected to the steel rails via simple
fastener connections. Armatures extending from the inner facade
support both the catwalk and the steel rail system.
According to the design team, one of the greatest challenges of

the project was the connection of the bands of aluminum
apertures across nine unique facade planes. To maintain the
visual continuity of the second skin, Behnisch Architekten
collaborated with manufacturer and installer Sottas SA to produce
a unique seam of aluminum pieces for each corner.
In the coming years, Behnisch will monitor the performance of

the complex’s enclosure system. Lessons learned from the study
of the structure will inform the design of similar systems for
ongoing projects such as Harvard’s School of Engineering an
A li d S i d th ARENA HQ i G
Applied Sciences and the ARENA HQ in Germany.
This Swiss
Robert Matthew cancer
Noblett institute
will be joiningkeeps out “Facade
a panel, the sun with a continuous aluminum screen
Syntax:
Changing Context and International Regulations,” at The
Architect’s Newspaper’s upcoming Facades+ New York conference,
a two-day event at the beginning of April focused on the design
and performance of facades.
Switzerland
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5/31/2021 This Swiss cancer institute keeps out the sun with a continuous aluminum screen

ARCHITECTURE ART DESIGN URBANISM AN INTERIOR AWARDS EVENTS SUBSCRIBE

This Swiss cancer institute keeps out the sun

The AGORA Pôle de Recherche Sur le Cancer is located in Lausanne, Switzerland,

Aluminum Behnisch Architekten ETFE 1 A highway expansion project in Houston

2 Once-endangered San Antonio

of the centuries-old city from a 3 Google’s 80-acre Downtown West

As an approximately 240,000-square-foot cancer research 5 The restoration of the Air Force Academy

7 Cooper Robertson awarded riverfront

“AGORA was our first effort at developing a stationary, responsive

1 Helmut Jahn dead at 81 after fatal

2 Two historic homes in Lexington,

3 Daily digest: A broken glass bridge in

4 Terence Riley, former Chief Curator of

5 KPF is designing another Manhattan

6 Cooper Robertson awarded riverfront

7 A new book about architecture and

The second skin of the building consists of a Facade

continuous aluminum screen that runs across Manufacturer &

the underlying glazed facade. Each of the facade’s Sottas SA, Bulle

nine distinct planes is shaded with a unique Behnisch

relatively large openings while that on the south Consultants

The Queen's 95th Birthday

Westminster Collection Open

For the shading requirements of the building, Behnisch

“The optimization of the facade is controlled both by the aperture

According to the design team, one of the greatest challenges of

In the coming years, Behnisch will monitor the performance of

Up In The Air Scrim Shaw Pearl River Delta Icon

Contact International AN INTERIOR City Terrain Re-use Summit

About West Architecture Facades+ Facades+

Advertise Southwest Art Monday Morning Tech+

Privacy Policy Midwest Design Late

East Development Late

Southeast Preservation Late

United States Transportation Late

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