As a result of the urban analysis we decided to use the stadium as literal catalyst for the development of the area at the same time as we provide this new stadium of a nice urban context related to the accesses, circulations and interactions with the new neighborhood.
The formal solution to achieve the goal came from an urban cladding approach following the gesture of the integration housing-stadium. The urban fabric wraps the stadium.
This leads to two main directions in the process to make a coherent design: the functional (from an organization point of view) and the visual (from the skin point of view).


In respect to the skin:

The skin will not only deal with the visual challenge of the gesture but also with the energetic performance.

We can identify some preliminary goals or restrictions for this skin:

1) It should be understood as 1 skin wrapping the building which changes its role in relation to the housing (roof or façade) but always continuous.

2) A transparent skin to allow the maximum of light in the living areas.

3) The subdivision of the skin should emphasize the twisting gesture.



The fact that this urban fabric is considered as a whole should be used in the energetic way as well. We identify the possibility of creating a microclimate under the skin.
We can identify two performances of the skin according to its position in relation to the housing:

1) The horizontal one serving as roof of the low-rise neighborhood. Improving social relations in the outdoor space by creating a more comfortable atmosphere, a microclimate.

2) The vertical one serving as the second façade of the housing.


Both deal with sustainability from the thermal comfort point of view.
To determine in which way the skin deal with the comfort and energy saving we identified two main paths:

1) Using the second skin behavior in winter and summer

2) Focusing on one specific problem: winter

The first option requires a lot of adaptation. When having a transparent second façade, winter comfort can be quite achievable but we have an overheating problem in summer. This problem can be solved through shading the second skin and ventilating the cavity. In this case, the double façade would also be energy efficient in summer but paying a price for it, the transparency. It is important therefore to evaluate the need of the second façade in each situation.
By analyzing the site more carefully, we can see that the overheating problems in summer are not as problematic as in the more inner parts of the city. Because of being next to the water, the evaporative cooling effect takes place.
During the day, the sun heats up more the land because of the lower thermal inertia in comparison to the water. Because of that, the air over the land increases its pressure which provokes a displacement of the high mass of it towards the water. The pressure difference provokes that the cooler air above the water move towards the land provoking a cooling wind which helps to reduce the temperature in the area.
Because of this, it is reasonable to focus the summer behavior in the ventilation of the skin. This way, the natural ventilation of the housing could be achieved in a more direct way.

Winter performance of the skin: microclimate


PERFORMANCE OF THE SKIN: Improving comfort and energy saving in winter, in both the urban and the building scale allowing a maximum of light through it.




Summer performance of the skin: ventilation

ADAPTIVE SYSTEM: Focused on the opening of this skin for maximum ventilation.

Possibilities of the subdivision of the surface:

We can see that the division of the surface in one direction or the other has a lot of influence for the emphasis of the twist.
In the first two examples we can understand the subdivisions as the. The lines can be understood as the generators of the twist. This is not absolutely true because the two curves have different lengths and curvatures, but the gesture is visually emphasized.
The perception of the twist increases proportionally to the number of lines.
In the last two examples, the longitudinal subdivision talks more about the divisions of a given surface The perception of the twist gets more lost the closer the lines come.
From a street point of view, the twist will only be more visible when the surface responds differently to light, which will not really happen with a transparent material.

Possible solution: Transparent strips which can rotate independently achieving an adaptive ventilation.