Boundary and skin
Double skin
office school public building housing
A facade made of two layers separated by a cavity through which air circulates.
What it solves
The outer layer receives the sun and the rain. In hot climates the cavity is vented to the outside to remove heat before it reaches the interior.
Today
In the tropics an open second skin of lattice, mesh or sunshades works best, giving shade and letting air flow. If the cavity is closed it must be well ventilated so it does not become an oven.
Common mistake
Copying glass double skins from cold climates, which in the tropics trap heat and dirt.
Tomorrow
A second skin of climbers or of mesh with plants shades the building and feeds birds and insects. It can be pruned or changed without touching the structure.
Fact The gap between the two layers generally ranges from 20 centimeters to 2 meters.
Where it comes from
- 1German industrial architecture Giengen, Germany, 1903
A toy factory uses a double glass wall, with a continuous outer skin and an inner one floor by floor, to achieve halls full of light. - 2Modern Movement La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, 1916
At the Villa Schwob, Le Corbusier tries out the neutralizing wall, with pipes carrying heat or cold between two layers of glass. - 3Energy-saving architecture United States, 1980
An office building leaves more than a meter of cavity between panes to temper the air.
Masters
- Diébédo Francis Kéré Lycée Schorge, Koudougou, Burkina Faso, 2016
He wraps the school in a screen of eucalyptus poles that shades courtyards and corridors. It is an open second skin made with a cheap local material.
See also
Also in Boundary and skin
Diagrams and texts by LDB Arquitectura. They are shared under the CC BY 4.0 license, which allows them to be used and adapted with credit to the source.