Company Details | |
---|---|
Company Name | WOOD-SKIN |
Company Address | via Marcantonio dal Re, 24 Milano 20156 Italy Map It |
Your Contact Details | |
Name | Anna Bortolini |
Job Title | Marketing&Communication |
Email hidden; Javascript is required. | |
Phone | 3755355489 |
Role of this organisation in the project being entered | 3D acoustic surface supplier |
Category - Interior |
|
Entry Details | |
Project/Product Name (written how it should appear) | THE CEILING OF ROOM XIX OF THE UNITED NATIONS PALACE IN GENEVA |
Project Address | 8, Av. de la Paix 14 Geneva 1211 Switzerland Map It |
Client Name | State of Qatar State of Qatar |
Designer/Architect Name | Peia Associati WOOD-SKIN |
Contractor Name | CCM CCM |
Project/Product Description | WOOD-SKIN is the design and technical partner for the renovation of the United Nations Room XIX in Geneva, commissioned to the architectural firm PEIA Associati, through a generous donation from the State of Qatar. The project reinterprets the diplomacy, tradition, calligraphy and the landscape of Qatar through contemporary materials, technologies and design languages. The realization of this room embodies the best of Italian design and know-how. Peia Associati, a world-class architectural firm, has chosen the AI Group as its engineering support and CCM as its general contractor. The hall, with a capacity of 800 and an area of 4,000 square meters, is the largest and most technologically advanced of the UN, a model for future projects. The WOOD-SKIN system also made it possible to integrate the circadian lighting by FLOS in a fluid way, along with the complex engineering required by a conference hall of the future. Air conditioning, video projectors, robotic cameras, and sensors were carefully positioned in the design phase and then seamlessly installed, creating an organic system that takes advantage of the features of WOOD-SKIN as a platform for technological integration. An important feature of the space is its high-performance acoustics: the parametric modelling software allowed us to simulate the behaviour of the surface and its deformation until achieving the volumes dictated by the technical/acoustic requirements of the space. The wall and ceiling panels, in addition to having characteristics of sound diffusion, are engineered to manage high and low sound frequencies. The complex geometries generate an irregular surface that promotes sound diffusion, thereby reducing echo. The textile core of the cladding, on the other hand, makes the panels behave more like fabric than wood, capable of absorbing even the lower range of frequencies. The use of a sculptural language breaks the symmetry of the circular conference room, giving the space a new dynamism, but also a new metaphorical resonance. Peia Associati’s architectural design interprets the assembly space in all its physical and institutional complexity. WOOD-SKIN, thanks to its innovative technology that provides the solution to the most complex design challenges, complements the architecture both functionally and aesthetically. |
Materials Used | WOOD-SKIN is a semi-rigid membrane that makes complex forms and movements possible. A composite of wood and fabric only a few millimetres thick, the modularization of the surface into flexible ‘tiles’ proved to be the ideal solution for creating the desired volumes. The large ceiling area was designed using special parametric modelling software and proprietary WOOD-SKIN software. By virtually simulating the behaviour of a semi-rigid membrane, these tools enabled the surface to be shaped at will until achieving the volumes dictated by the technical requirements, allowing the correct cone of visibility, the refraction of light and sound, and the positioning of the lighting, electrical and climatic systems. WOOD-SKIN is an extremely lightweight material, so it was not necessary to reinforce the existing structure of the dome in order to install it; on the contrary, the WOOD-SKIN solution weighs far less than the original ceiling. |
Sustainability | Thanks to WOOD-SKIN technology, the panels were transported flat to the construction site. This, together with the lightness of the material, made installation quick and easy, as well as minimizing the environmental impact. |
Issues Faced | Working with such complex forms using traditional techniques would have been a very difficult operation to carry out, onerous in terms of both time and expense. Thanks to the special characteristics of WOOD-SKIN, a flexible and “digital” cladding, it was possible to create a composite that could adapt to every architectural need. WOOD-SKIN is a next-generation surface born from the direct correspondence between the physical material and its digital version, which allows architects and engineers to design complexity itself, certain of the future behaviour and limits of the material. As is often the case in projects using WOOD-SKIN, the ceiling of Room XIX was inspired in part by a specific form – the dunes of the desert. The sinuous lines are discretized and divided into triangles, a recurring geometry for the optimization of complex surfaces. Together with the architects, numerous iterations of the pattern were created, geometries with a precise cultural heritage, which were then gradually abstracted to arrive at the current configuration. The various phases of the design of the large free-form ceiling followed one another in a fluid manner, without having to modify the underlying structures. WOOD-SKIN is supported by a series of guylines that serve both a structural and aesthetic function, whose positioning and measure is also defined by software. A lightweight and invisible forest of thin steel cables that, with a density 70% lower than traditional systems, easily supports all 5 tons of the 1,000-square-meter dropped ceiling. |
Video Link | youtube.com |
Supporting Images |