PIXEL

Creating a Visually playful connection between the inside and the outside.


The site chosen for Pixel seemed to be an ideal fit, given its commercial functionality, as it was situated at the crossroads of four roads and was flanked by two of these roads on two adjacent edges. This site played a crucial role in the design process.

The site context was made up of squares, rectangles, or a combination of pixels, but the overall layout was undulating since the building volumes varied. The initial design for the building was inspired by this  pattern. But just like the organic fabric of the city that did not adhere to a fixed structure, it was vital to search for a pattern of positive and negative areas that was neither overly ordered nor underwhelmingly disorganized.

After leaving necessary setbacks, a basic volume was produced which was then divided into pixels. A normal facade level, a pushed in level, and a pulled out level of depth were applied to these pixels and experimented with. The goal of these three different layers of depth was mainly to produce a playful and interesting exterior. The normal facade level is predominantly covered by glass.

Glass is an essential architectural material in this case, because visual porosity to draw people in from the outside, is essential for commercial complexes. However, the building only has limited visual porosity, in order to arouse curiosity, allow for privacy, and also minimize solar heat gain. This glass facade was added to the pixels that were located on the building’s corner areas facing the intersection of two roads. Along with the height, the number of pixels also expanded from the centre. Using this technique, the building was given a sense of scale and grandeur. Corner pixels were specifically picked for the glass facade because they would grab more attention and create an urban serial vision.

 The glass facade may be sensed growing closer to them as people travel from the two roads flaking the building towards the junction. At the end of the road, just the top of the building, which seems far away from the person, is visually accessible; but, as they approach the intersection, a massive glass façade, covering all floors, can be experienced. By gradually revealing glimpses of the interiors, it nearly seems as though the glass front is welcoming the onlooker from the road.

The next step was to generate a succession of positive and negative spaces in the rest of the façade, by pushing and pulling volumes. This made way for niches within them that may accommodate plants or could just be merely illuminated with minimal lighting. A monolithic commercial complex was also avoided by incorporating the Jenga-like design on the facade, which also gave the walls some depth that could one day be used for advertising if required.