Nerves of Steel: Sheet Metal Façades

Both versatile and pragmatic, sheet metal is quickly becoming a popular choice for modern projects. While it’s currently used in numerous capacities, including as airplane wings and car bodies, architects have begun specifying sheet metal for roofs, walls, and complex façade designs. Manufactured through industrial processes, the metal undergoes many different forming techniques: rolling, bending, punching, and brake forming, among others. This malleability accommodates an incredible range of design intentions and conceptual ideas, whether parametric or rectilinear in nature. Compositionally, sheets can be made from metals like brass, steel, aluminum, or titanium. As a fundamental form in metalworking, the thin, flat pieces can be made into countless shapes of varied thicknesses.

Sheet metal has a unique background. Historically developed and applied as plate armor for soldiers and cavalry, the material has also been used for medical tables and decorative arts. Now, as thin metal skins start to wrap contemporary structures, new architectural problems are being created. Sheet metal buildings need to consider break patterns, insulation methods, and connection systems, but they must also address questions of context, style, and human experience. Rounding up a collection of buildings from the Architizer database, the following projects apply sheet metal to façades, roofs and surfaces to begin answering these questions. Utilizing various gauges and tolerances, the designs explore modern metal envelopes and their contemporary applications worldwide.

Montessori Elementary by Marlon Blackwell Architect, Fayetteville, Ariz., United States

Known for utilizing box-rib metal panels, Marlon Blackwell designed the Montessori Elementary school to negotiate environmental conditions and the need for new programmatic space. Sited in a flood zone, the project includes a commercial kitchen, classrooms, and meeting spaces. With a limited budget, the taut, formed envelope opens up to reveal clear cypress detailing oriented to views and entrances.

Grün Sports Complex by A3 LUPPI UGALDE WINTER, Buenos Aires, Argentina

This sports complex building is located on a large site of over 14 hectares. Two boxes frame a synthetic grass square, both of which can be moved and relocated. Functioning as a meeting place, the simple formal object contrasts metal and glass, as well as opaque and glazed walls.

Moose Road Residence by Mork Ulnes Architects, Ukiah, Calif., United States

The Moose Road Residence frames separate land formations seen from the building. Three thin volumes extend between existing oak trees on-site to preserve them and capture the surrounding views. Standardized sheet metal help meet the project’s sustainability goals and keep the cost low.

Elk Valley Tractor Shed by FIELDWORK Design and Architecture, Hood River, Ore., United States

Located within orchards along Hood River, the Elk Valley Tractor Shed houses farm equipment. Working with the farm’s traffic patterns, the shed was created with the site’s steep slope and orientation in mind. Wrapping seamlessly from walls to roof, the sheet metal skin minimizes possible leaks.

H House by Budapesti Muhely, Sóskút, Hungary

H House stands on the edge of a forest. A study in Central-European vernacular architecture, the simple building has a modular structure. Reinterpreting the peasant longhouse archetype, the design utilizes a logical grid, two asymmetrical elements, and carefully detailed wood and metal covers.

Le Bourg Neuf by ng-architecte, Brittany, France

Located in France, Le Bourg Neuf is a renovation of an existing structure. Extending the original volume, the project includes both a temporary house and workshop space. Capitalizing on existing views and orientations, the buildings creates links between various components of the site.

Ryoguhiya by Kengo Kuma and Associates, Nagoya, Japan

Kengo Kuma’s Ryoguhiya project creates a place of shadows for a long-established Japanese confectionary store. Facing a busy road, the design includes a type of sanctuary area that establishes an atmosphere akin to Japanese gardens. With washi paper, wood, and metal, the project celebrates gentile lighting and unexpected moments.

Bolton Residence by _naturehumaine, Bolton-Est, Canada

The Bolton Residence rests on a natural plateau near the highest point of a sloped site. Designed as a country house that’s in symbiosis with its landscape, the project is characterized by two stacked volumes.

SDA Service Center by NUA Arquitectures, Tarragona, Spain

Sited in the Campclar neighborhood, this project is a new food distribution center built in just three months. Divided into three zones, the design includes distribution space, service areas, and a storage room. Prefabricated metallic elements run along the lateral façades, while the frontal façades have perforated profiles.

Youth Centre by CORNELIUS + VÖGE, Roskilde, Denmark

Denmark’s Youth Centre project renovates and extends an existing building in Roskilde. Situated between an older development and village, the red building was created to underline its regional identity. New covered areas create integrated, playful zones and living areas between inside and outside.