RTP/RPD Studios [concrete_dematerialized=glass]

RTP/RPD Studios [concrete_dematerialized=glass]

Project: R.T.P. / R.P.D. Studios, Lisbon

Architect/Designer: Frederico Valsassina Arquitectos

Featured material: Glass (printed glass facade)

The RTP/RDP Studios offers a remarkable example of concrete and glass as building volume composition and as a dynamic material transition. Architect Frederico Valsassina designed two minimal and simple volumes to house programmatically the project’s studios and administrative offices. These two buildings seat on an abstract shaped green surface making them appear disconnected from each other allowing a sculptural perception at first sight. However, inside this green buffer is where most of the circulation and support spaces occurs between the studios and offices. The composition of studios (concrete), circulation and support (topography/underground), and offices (glass) creates a dynamic juxtaposition of transitional spaces and the relation between exterior and interior. Making the volume program inseparable from each other and the building surfaces dematerialization from concrete to glass. Glass is composed of 75% silica (sand) plus other substances. Then is collected into a large batch for later to be transported into furnaces. After melting, homogenization and refining of fused materials, the glass is formed. At the RTP/RDP studios, the concrete building could be perceived dematerialized into the glass building. Just like the way glass is formed from quartz sand into glass but without the heating process. Instead this is due in part on the way Valsassina progressively arranged the buildings within the sloped green surface. The dematerialization is created by the spectacle of the partially printed glass facade giving the impression of the concrete being absorbed by the void within the building. This perception, however, it is only possible by the building’s proximity to each other and analyzing as a complex instead of individual structures. A rare instance where the natural (landscape) and the artificial (building) act upon harmony to express each other role as a whole.

Synthesized features:

– Properties:

· light weight

· flexible composition, shapes, and an array of color modes

· resistance to corrosion and staining

· recyclable

– Applications:

· exterior/interior

· often used as a passive measure to control daylighting levels as well as privacy