America’s Cup Building ‘Veles e Vents’
Valencia, Spain · 2006
Photo · Christian Richters
A precedent for waterfront public architecture utilizing stacked, shifted horizontal concrete planes to create deep, self-shading viewing terraces.
- What we like about this project
- The external diagonal ramp cuts dynamically through the open space between the middle slabs.
Materials
- concrete
- glass
- steel
- white-render
Visual identifiers
- cantilevered-slabs
- stacked-planes
- diagonal-ramp
- waterfront-pavilion
- white-concrete
Style tags
- minimalist
- modernist
- rationalist
- structural-expressionism
Visual tags
- horizontal-planes
- shaded-terraces
- maritime-architecture
- public-pavilion
- cantilever
- Geometry
- Stacked, shifted horizontal planes with deep cantilevers and open-air terraces connected by an external diagonal ramp.
- Facade system
- Deeply recessed glass curtain wall behind open-air concrete terraces.
- Structural guess
- Post-tensioned concrete slabs supported by recessed columns and core walls
- Spatial scale
- Multi-story public pavilion scale, elevated above a wide pedestrian harbor promenade.
- Lighting
- Bright, direct Mediterranean daylight casting sharp, deep shadows beneath the massive cantilevered slabs.
- Atmosphere
- Bright, open, and breezy maritime atmosphere defined by clean horizontal lines against a clear blue sky.
- Environmental context
- Waterfront harbor setting with a concrete quay, moored boats, and a line of colorful event flags.
- Spatial experience
- The building opens outward to the water with deep, shaded viewing decks that blur the boundary between indoor hospitality spaces and the outdoor harbor.
- Composition rhythm
- Strong horizontal bands of white slabs contrasted by the dynamic diagonal line of the external ramp.
- Style reading
- Minimalist structural rationalism
- Program
- Event pavilion and viewing platform
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- concrete, glass, steel, white-render
- Visual identifiers
- cantilevered-slabs, stacked-planes, diagonal-ramp, waterfront-pavilion, white-concrete
- Style tags
- minimalist, modernist, rationalist, structural-expressionism
- Visual tags
- horizontal-planes, shaded-terraces, maritime-architecture, public-pavilion, cantilever
- Geometry
- Stacked, shifted horizontal planes with deep cantilevers and open-air terraces connected by an external diagonal ramp.
- Facade system
- Deeply recessed glass curtain wall behind open-air concrete terraces.
- Structural guess
- Post-tensioned concrete slabs supported by recessed columns and core walls
- Spatial scale
- Multi-story public pavilion scale, elevated above a wide pedestrian harbor promenade.
- Lighting
- Bright, direct Mediterranean daylight casting sharp, deep shadows beneath the massive cantilevered slabs.
- Atmosphere
- Bright, open, and breezy maritime atmosphere defined by clean horizontal lines against a clear blue sky.
- Environmental context
- Waterfront harbor setting with a concrete quay, moored boats, and a line of colorful event flags.
- Spatial experience
- The building opens outward to the water with deep, shaded viewing decks that blur the boundary between indoor hospitality spaces and the outdoor harbor.
- Composition rhythm
- Strong horizontal bands of white slabs contrasted by the dynamic diagonal line of the external ramp.
- Style reading
- Minimalist structural rationalism
- Program
- Event pavilion and viewing platform
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture