Current Issue    (Sustainability) + Pleasure, vol. 1: Culture + Architecture Number 30, Spring/Summer 2009

New Transformers in Building
By Chuck Hoberman and Hoberman Associates


Hoberman Arch
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
2002
Winter Olympics

Synopsis:
Hoberman Associates’ largest transforming structure to date, the Hoberman Arch, is a transforming curtain that was installed in front of the stage at Olympic Medals Plaza. It provided an artistically engineered performance (including music, lighting, and dancers) to signal the start of each evening’s medal ceremony, witnessed by an estimated 3.5 billion people worldwide. When open, it revealed the Olympic flame.



Audiencia Provincial
Madrid, Spain
Completion Estimated 2011
Architect: Foster + Partners

Synopsis:
The new Campus of Justice in Madrid is the largest single site dedicated to law courts in Europe. Following the master plan, Foster + Partners has designed two distinct circular buildings, the larger of which is the Audiencia Provincial. This building has been designed to minimize unwanted solar gain, while allowing in natural daylight. Hoberman Associates was contracted to develop several customized shading systems. The shading units will occupy the central circular atrium along with the eight peripheral atria. Hoberman developed a series of hexagonal shading cells, which, when extended, cover the triangulated roof grid. When retracted, their profiles disappear into the structural profiles of the roof. An algorithm combining historic solar gain data with real-time sensing of light levels will control the shading units.



Aldar Central Market
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Completion Estimated 2011
Architect: Foster + Partners

Synopsis:
Abu Dhabi’s historic Aldar Central Market is to be transformed into a dynamic new quarter with markets, shops, offices, apartments, and hotels. One of the oldest sites in the city, Aldar Central Market will be a reinterpretation of the traditional marketplace and the new civic heart for Abu Dhabi. The project comprises a combination of lower-rise, ecologically sensitive retail levels; roof gardens (forming a new public park); and three towers. Hoberman has developed several exterior shading roofs to be installed in three public squares housed in the complex. The firm created a kinetic design that works off of an operable grid. In its covered configuration, the shading roof appears similar to a traditional coffered Islamic roof. When retracted, the roof becomes a slender lattice that complements the designs by the Foster team for fixed shading.