Once it is built, the phenomena that the architects set out to celebrate should be made legible to a building's inhabitants. Three examples: The Kuwait University College of Education mitigates the world's hottest urban climate with a self-shading curtain wall whose geometry is derived by the sun's path to shield every window, thereby eliminating 80% of the building's solar heat gain; reducing glare inside the building, and eliminating the need for artificial day-lighting.
The Central Bank of Kuwait project is an inside-out desert tower - based on indigenous courtyard dwellings - that employs a massive, heat-resistive ‘shell' (perforated, load-bearing external enclosure) and a fully shielded, glazed ‘core' (contiguous internal atrium void) for maximized views and controlled daylight.
The United States Census Bureau blends 250,000 sq m of programme into the adjacent Woodland Preserve by mapping the forest onto the building with modulated, white oak sunshades; large, vegetated roof parks on three of the building's eight levels; and amenity spaces focused on forest views.
