Austrian architecture firm hertl architekten recently finished this project- ‘aichinger house’, a multi-story apartment building consisting of two flats in Kronstorf, Austria. The structure, which once housed a restaurant, is treated to a textile skin which lends the building a light, curtain effect by applying a material which is normally reserved for the indoors. The project inspired by today’s use of skins for everything from phones to website design, it explores the flexibility of facades and skins.
The facade appears almost metallic from a distance, the design wraps the whole exterior of the building in the light grey fabric, rendering the layout and form of the interior hidden from the outside viewer.
Iron embraces strategically placed part the curtain at the window to allow daylight into the apartments. Much like interior draperies, the skin can be drawn closed to provide shade and diffusion of light. During the night, the fabric provides a paper lantern effect, distributing the glow from the building to the exterior.
I have to say this gives new meaning to tab tops or even rod pocket tops and bottoms!
