L'illa Diagonal
Barcelona, Spain · 1993
Photo · Photo by Lluis Casals
A major precedent for large-scale urban block design, demonstrating how a massive program can be broken down using a stepped longitudinal profile and a highly disciplined, textured stone-clad punched window facade.
- What we like about this project
- The stone panels have a highly textured, rough-hewn finish that catches the low-angle light far more dynamically than polished stone.
Materials
- travertine
- stone-cladding
- glass
- metal-framing
Visual identifiers
- stepped-facade
- travertine-cladding
- punched-windows
- horizontal-block
- golden-hour-reflection
Style tags
- postmodern
- rationalist
- monumentalism
Visual tags
- monumental
- urban-block
- stone-facade
- stepped-massing
- rationalist
- commercial-complex
- Geometry
- A massive, stepped longitudinal block that recedes in height and plan. The facade features a highly disciplined grid of small, punched square windows that follow the building's stepped profile.
- Facade system
- Punched window stone rainscreen system.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete frame with stone cladding
- Spatial scale
- Mega-scale multi-story commercial block spanning several hundred meters along a city street.
- Lighting
- Warm, low-angle golden hour sunlight striking the textured stone facade, creating high-contrast shadows and reflecting intensely off the window panes.
- Atmosphere
- A majestic, golden-hued urban monumentality where the heavy stone mass is warmed and animated by the setting sun.
- Environmental context
- Dense urban boulevard lined with palm trees and vehicular traffic at the base.
- Spatial experience
- The building acts as a monumental urban wall or 'horizontal skyscraper' along a major avenue, with its stepped form mitigating its immense scale at the street level.
- Composition rhythm
- A rigorous, repeating grid of square punched openings is punctuated by deep vertical setbacks and stepped rooflines.
- Style reading
- Postmodern Rationalism
- Program
- Mixed-use commercial and office complex
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- travertine, stone-cladding, glass, metal-framing
- Visual identifiers
- stepped-facade, travertine-cladding, punched-windows, horizontal-block, golden-hour-reflection
- Style tags
- postmodern, rationalist, monumentalism
- Visual tags
- monumental, urban-block, stone-facade, stepped-massing, rationalist, commercial-complex
- Geometry
- A massive, stepped longitudinal block that recedes in height and plan. The facade features a highly disciplined grid of small, punched square windows that follow the building's stepped profile.
- Facade system
- Punched window stone rainscreen system.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete frame with stone cladding
- Spatial scale
- Mega-scale multi-story commercial block spanning several hundred meters along a city street.
- Lighting
- Warm, low-angle golden hour sunlight striking the textured stone facade, creating high-contrast shadows and reflecting intensely off the window panes.
- Atmosphere
- A majestic, golden-hued urban monumentality where the heavy stone mass is warmed and animated by the setting sun.
- Environmental context
- Dense urban boulevard lined with palm trees and vehicular traffic at the base.
- Spatial experience
- The building acts as a monumental urban wall or 'horizontal skyscraper' along a major avenue, with its stepped form mitigating its immense scale at the street level.
- Composition rhythm
- A rigorous, repeating grid of square punched openings is punctuated by deep vertical setbacks and stepped rooflines.
- Style reading
- Postmodern Rationalism
- Program
- Mixed-use commercial and office complex
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture