Portal Way
An exterior facade precedent for urban multi-family residential architecture by Dowen Farmer Architects, demonstrating how to combine textured light brick, deep balconies, and a structural roof colonnade.
- What we like about this project
- The top level dissolves into an open colonnade that frames the sky above the solid brick masses below.
Materials
- light-brick
- glass
- steel
- concrete
Visual identifiers
- light-brick
- recessed-balconies
- roof-colonnade
- punched-windows
Style tags
- contemporary
- rationalist
- urban
Visual tags
- residential
- urban-infill
- balconies
- daylight-control
- contemporary
- Geometry
- Rectangular multi-story volume featuring a stepped upper level, deeply recessed balconies on the left, and flat-faced punctured windows on the right.
- Facade system
- Load-bearing light brick masonry with integrated steel-rail balconies and a precast concrete or rendered upper colonnade.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete frame with brick masonry veneer and slab projections.
- Spatial scale
- Four to five stories tall, scaled comfortably to fit within an existing urban neighborhood context.
- Lighting
- Direct bright daylight casting strong shadows across the recessed facade bays and underside of the roof colonnade.
- Atmosphere
- Bright, sunny, and calm urban atmosphere balancing solid masonry with porous balconies.
- Environmental context
- Urban street edge with mature trees, parked cars, pedestrians, and surrounding multi-story residential developments.
- Spatial experience
- The facade presents a solid urban edge from the street while opening up into deeply shaded balconies and framed loggias that invite light into the living spaces.
- Composition rhythm
- Asymmetrical composition balancing a solid punched window grid on the right with open loggias and balconies on the left.
- Style reading
- Contemporary urban residential architecture
- Program
- Multi-family residential apartment building
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- light-brick, glass, steel, concrete
- Visual identifiers
- light-brick, recessed-balconies, roof-colonnade, punched-windows
- Style tags
- contemporary, rationalist, urban
- Visual tags
- residential, urban-infill, balconies, daylight-control, contemporary
- Geometry
- Rectangular multi-story volume featuring a stepped upper level, deeply recessed balconies on the left, and flat-faced punctured windows on the right.
- Facade system
- Load-bearing light brick masonry with integrated steel-rail balconies and a precast concrete or rendered upper colonnade.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete frame with brick masonry veneer and slab projections.
- Spatial scale
- Four to five stories tall, scaled comfortably to fit within an existing urban neighborhood context.
- Lighting
- Direct bright daylight casting strong shadows across the recessed facade bays and underside of the roof colonnade.
- Atmosphere
- Bright, sunny, and calm urban atmosphere balancing solid masonry with porous balconies.
- Environmental context
- Urban street edge with mature trees, parked cars, pedestrians, and surrounding multi-story residential developments.
- Spatial experience
- The facade presents a solid urban edge from the street while opening up into deeply shaded balconies and framed loggias that invite light into the living spaces.
- Composition rhythm
- Asymmetrical composition balancing a solid punched window grid on the right with open loggias and balconies on the left.
- Style reading
- Contemporary urban residential architecture
- Program
- Multi-family residential apartment building
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture