Höweler and Yoon Architecture, LLP

Sky Courts

Sky Courts
© Yihuai Hu

SKY COURTS

Höweler + Yoon Architecture

ARCHITECTS
Höweler + Yoon Architecture

PHOTOGRAPHS
Yihuai Hu

AREA
20.0 ft²

YEAR
2012

LOCATION
Chengdu, China

CATEGORY
Houses, Offices

Text description provided by architect.

ky Courts is a 20,000 sqf corporate club house that incorporate short-term housing, office space, and entertainment facilities utilizing the logics of the courtyard and sloped roof.

Sky Courts
Courtesy of Höweler + Yoon Architecture
Sky Courts
© Yihuai Hu

The project packs several courtyards into a defined perimeter and utilizes the sloped roof to accommodate program in the wedge between courtyards, allowing the project to read as 100% courtyard from above.

The complex lacks a single center; instead it is a network with multiple centers, and multiple paths, edges and liners.

Sky Courts
Courtesy of Höweler + Yoon Architecture
Sky Courts
Courtesy of Höweler + Yoon Architecture

The sequence through these precincts creates a series of layered spaces that line exterior spaces, and views from one courtyard might look through perimeter spaces and into other courtyards.

The layering of interiors and exteriors creates a varied sequence through the complex. The roof geometry consists of a series of inward sloping roofs. The roof profile varies to create the impression of a landscape of peaks and valleys. 

Sky Courts
Courtesy of Höweler + Yoon Architecture
Sky Courts
Courtesy of Höweler + Yoon Architecture

The alternating inclinations of the major ridge lines produce a varied roofscape and cause the roof planes to twist.

 By maintaining a constant eave line and varying the perimeter, each plane on the roof is a hyperbolic ruled surface.

Sky Courts
Courtesy of Höweler + Yoon Architecture
Sky Courts
Courtesy of Höweler + Yoon Architecture

The use of a ceramic tile uses the gap between units as well as the fine grain of the tile, to absorb the non planar roof condition. 

The ceramic tile, with a built in capacity to absorb tolerance between units aggregates to produce a twisting roofscape configuration. The project exploits a specific building material to achieve a larger geometrical effect.


Sky Courts
© Yihuai Hu
Sky Courts
© Yihuai Hu


Sky Courts
Courtesy of Höweler + Yoon Architecture
Sky Courts
Courtesy of Höweler + Yoon Architecture


Sky Courts
Courtesy of Höweler + Yoon Architecture

Höweler and Yoon Architecture, LLP
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Höweler and Yoon Architecture, LLP
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