YMCA Huntington Healthy Living Center
An exterior facade study of structural expressionism, using bold sloped concrete piers and dark metal X-braces to create deep window reveals and rhythmic shadow play.
- What we like about this project
- The way dark X-braces cut diagonally through the negative space of the upper window reveals.
Materials
- concrete
- steel
- glass
- metal-framing
Visual identifiers
- angled-concrete-columns
- x-bracing
- recessed-windows
- structural-fins
Style tags
- structural-expressionism
- brutalist-inflected
- contemporary-civic
Visual tags
- structural-expressionism
- civic
- facade-rhythm
- daylight-shading
- heavy-massing
- Geometry
- Rhythmic repetition of heavy, outward-slanting concrete piers combined with dark metal X-braces across recessed window bays.
- Facade system
- Heavy precast or cast-in-place concrete piers with curtain wall glazing and secondary structural steel X-bracing.
- Structural guess
- External concrete column fins and steel X-braces stabilizing a steel or concrete primary frame.
- Spatial scale
- Multi-story civic scale; structural bays stand approximately two stories high.
- Lighting
- Late afternoon sun casts strong directional highlights on the angled concrete fins and deep shadows within the reveals.
- Atmosphere
- Structured and robust, accented by the warm, dramatic fall of low afternoon sunlight.
- Environmental context
- Suburban setting featuring a manicured lawn border and low shrubbery against the foundation wall.
- Spatial experience
- The deep rhythm of structural fins creates a shaded pedestrian walkway along the ground plane while framing dynamic diagonals.
- Composition rhythm
- Steady structural cadence defined by repeating sloped piers and alternating glazed bays.
- Style reading
- Structural expressionist civic architecture
- Program
- Community center or recreational facility
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- concrete, steel, glass, metal-framing
- Visual identifiers
- angled-concrete-columns, x-bracing, recessed-windows, structural-fins
- Style tags
- structural-expressionism, brutalist-inflected, contemporary-civic
- Visual tags
- structural-expressionism, civic, facade-rhythm, daylight-shading, heavy-massing
- Geometry
- Rhythmic repetition of heavy, outward-slanting concrete piers combined with dark metal X-braces across recessed window bays.
- Facade system
- Heavy precast or cast-in-place concrete piers with curtain wall glazing and secondary structural steel X-bracing.
- Structural guess
- External concrete column fins and steel X-braces stabilizing a steel or concrete primary frame.
- Spatial scale
- Multi-story civic scale; structural bays stand approximately two stories high.
- Lighting
- Late afternoon sun casts strong directional highlights on the angled concrete fins and deep shadows within the reveals.
- Atmosphere
- Structured and robust, accented by the warm, dramatic fall of low afternoon sunlight.
- Environmental context
- Suburban setting featuring a manicured lawn border and low shrubbery against the foundation wall.
- Spatial experience
- The deep rhythm of structural fins creates a shaded pedestrian walkway along the ground plane while framing dynamic diagonals.
- Composition rhythm
- Steady structural cadence defined by repeating sloped piers and alternating glazed bays.
- Style reading
- Structural expressionist civic architecture
- Program
- Community center or recreational facility
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture