The Future of Shade
Shade Structures and LEED Certifications
Largely because of LEED, the green market has exploded. According to a McGraw Hill Construction study titled, “Green Outlook 2011: Green Trends Driving Growth,” green construction has soared from $3 billion in 2005 to $58 billion in 2011 and will reach $122 billion in 2015. Green design generates another $4 billion a year for architects and engineers.6
Architizer.com's Kushner believes shade structures are part of that dynamic. “Shade is a no-brainer when it comes to reducing the environmental impact of our buildings and regarding certification programs like LEED,” Kushner says. “If we stop the sun from coming into our buildings, we don't have to cool them as much. If we stop the light from coming in or let more light in, we can affect our energy uses. So, there's a world of opportunity for how we modulate sunlight coming into our buildings.”
While some designers think of fabric in terms of interior shades, it could be that exterior shading is the future.
Kushner explains: “There's this really simple thing that I learned when I was in architecture school, which is: If you have a shade inside of the building, then all the heat is still coming into the building. If you put the shade outside of the glass, then all that heat from the sun is getting stopped before it enters the building. Minor moves like that, that are totally different than the way we culturally think about a building, can have giant impacts on how much energy we're using.”
LEED certification programs allow a number of points possible for types of shading products. Credits to which shade structures and products can contribute include:
Used by permission from the Professional Awning Manufacturers Association (PAMA)
Yanay Hotel: Future of SHADE 2014 Honorable Mention
Architect: Michel Rojkind, Rojkind Arquitectos, Diéguez-Fridman Mexico
Description: Spread across the meditative landscape of Amatlán, the Yanay Hotel consists of 19 individual bungalows, each composed of a stone foundation and a polygonal reinterpretation of the traditional fabric tent. Shading textiles are stretched over a metal frame and sculpted to feature protrusions ending in openings that let in natural light while affording views of the surrounding mountains and sky. At night, the lighting shines through the fabric exterior to create the effect of luminous, large-scale jacks spread across the landscape.
Scott Campbell: “The Yanay Hotel is a little different than everything else in that it's truly a shelter. The shading fabric that can be translucent and glow in the dark in the evenings is pretty cool. Yanay would be really exciting, to have a village of these structures that are all matched but are arranged randomly, as in the rendering. It would be a really exciting space to live in.”
Fred Bernstein: “The Yanay Hotel is interesting in lots of way. One of those ways is that it was designed for a site that exists, so we know where it could be built and probably will be built. It's extraordinarily beautiful. It creates hotel rooms that are glowing pavilions, like beacons or lanterns. And you'll be sleeping in one of these lanterns. It may be a magnificent and kind of ethereal experience when you're inside one of the rooms. And from the outside, these rooms glow beautifully.”
Marc Kushner: “The Yanay Hotel makes one really amazing adjustment to a typical building. Typically, we've got earth, walls, architecture, and then a roof. And it cuts out this center section. So, we just have earth and a roof. And in this case, the roof is a shading fabric. So, in between that shading device and the earth is where you get to hang out. And you get to, basically, inhabit a lantern. And it's a new level of camping. It's amazing.”
Image courtesy of Sunbrella
Flagship: Future of SHADE 2014 Honorable Mention
Architect: Joao Araujo Sousa, Joana Silva, Architect – Joao Araujo Sousa, Arquitecto, Portugal
Description: A project pairing the transparency of glass with the shade provided by weather-resistant natural shading fabric. Ideal for coastal sites, the firm's design allows visitors to look outward from the structure's glass walls while sitting on fabric-upholstered benches. Overhead, a series of 240 suspended flags protects the interior from overexposure while casting rhythmic shadows that change throughout the day as the sun progresses through the sky.
Fred Bernstein: “We've seen lots of shade structures supported by steel, supported by wood, supported by other opaque materials. But in this case, the shade panels and the (fabric) panels are supported by structural glass, which is a remarkably elegant solution. And it makes the entire thing almost disappear. It's like clouds floating by in the sky. Obviously, clouds have no support. They float, and they drift by, and that's what this looks like. It's almost dematerialized. It's like clouds made of shading fabric.”
Marc Kushner: “Flagship is stunning. It's one of those entries that you see, and your jaw just kind of drops. And as we investigated it and learned about it, we realized it was an exercise in erasure more than adding. So, imagine taking a building and cutting out the walls and cutting out the roof. And all that you're left with is the fabric and the shade that it creates. And I think the entry went as far as proposing the vertical members should be glass as if they're not even there. So, the ultimate assemblage is kind of a magic carpet collage that floats over you and shoots past your head to create a new kind of shading environment.”
Scott Campbell: “I loved Flagship. The design is very clean. It's fresh. The glass walls that disappear, I thought it was very interesting. The analogy to sailing ships is appropriate.”
Photo courtesy of Sunbrella
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