This final-year project makes proposals for improving lamella facades. Wood and aluminium are the most obvious materials for this type of facade. However, they sit uneasily with today's transparent architecture. So I have not chosen to do research into lamellae in wood or aluminium, but into glass lamellae instead. My concern is with the lamella facade as a second skin for an existing facade. Research has brought to light the fact that lamella facades make extremely poor noise barriers. Armed with this information I developed two alternatives with an improved sound insulation. The first type couples an extra lamella to the existing one, the second alternative has a modified design. Both have been made to scale and tested in the acoustics lab of the TU/e on their sound-insulating properties. The tests showed that both alternatives were an improvement. I chose to flesh out the first alternative with the extra lamella as this improvement was top-quality and extended to almost all positions of the standard lamella facade.

Several brainstorming sessions elicited a final design. I opted for sound-absorbent glass lamellae that can be easily mounted on the existing aluminium frame of the standard lamella facade using aluminium glass clamps. From an architectural point of view the design can be executed with straight or curved glass lamellae for which two different clamp types were developed.

This final-year report seeks to give a clear and fresh view of the current lamella facade and all its attendant aspects. At the same time it attempts to satisfy the conflicting demands of solar protection and soundproofing in a design that can breathe new life into the architecture of the facade.

Place of education: TU Eindhoven
Specialization: architectuur
Tutors: Jouke Post, Guus Timmermans, Constant Hak & Guus Mouwen