Exterior facades and canopies are an area of building design where the sky is quite literally the limit. While seemingly underappreciated as far as average architecture goes, when a building or structure makes the effort to add a façade or modern canopy, the aesthetic — and functional — results can be performatively awe-inspiring.
From sports complexes to commercial structures to residential design, this article will dive into the world of canopies and facades and detail the power of using aluminum to match structural integrity with beauty.
“Great Park Canopies” Irvine, California, NBBJ Los Angeles (Architect), Featuring: Solutions Studio® by Arktura
At this sports complex in Orange County, California, Arktura worked with NBBJ Los Angeles and PlasTal to design and install a fresh take on canopy design. Utilizing aluminum, the canopies around the complex show off crisp lines and angles while providing a pergola-esque shading system, giving Californians a break from their sunny days.
“Great Park Canopies” Irvine, California, NBBJ Los Angeles (Architect), Featuring: Solutions Studio® by Arktura
Clean design and thoughtful material selection create a modern aesthetic while providing strength and durability for many years to come.
“Amazon Block 21” Seattle, WA, Graphite Design Group (Architect), Featuring: Pixel Swarm by Arktura
With our first look at a commercial structure, this award-winning canopy extends approximately 8600 square feet of interior and exterior areas. This custom ceiling takes its cues from nature, with a design directly inspired by the swarming flight patterns of birds. These murmurations were translated into nearly 3500 “pixels,” elegant powder-coated aluminum subpanels that use only bent angles and underlying color gradations to evoke a dynamic feeling of movement through a static system.
While architects could have simply brought the building straight down rather than leave an open space for a multi-storied, open-air entrance, the design of the building could accommodate an alternate form of egress.
Instead, the architects employed Arktura, Graphite Design and T-Bar Construction to transform the open space entryway into a powerfully modern scene thanks to the illuminating canopy above. The canopy ceiling goes further by spanning both exterior and interiors, maintaining a consistency that gives this structure significant aesthetic appeal.
“Seaview” San Diego, CA, Ware Malcomb – SD (Architect), Back´s Construction, Inc (Installer), Featuring: Solutions Studio® by Arktura
Canopies can come in all sorts of sizes and form factors. This biophilic design from Arktura offers cities and municipalities a unique take on civic design, producing a nature-inspired canopy in the park environment.
“Seaview” San Diego, CA, Ware Malcomb – SD (Architect), Back´s Construction, Inc (Installer), Featuring: Solutions Studio® by Arktura
The sturdy aluminum canopies perform their task of providing park-goers shade while projecting aesthetics in two ways — the canopy itself and the parametric patterning the shade creates on the ground below.
“Elysian Fields” Los Angeles, CA, Warren Techentin (Architect), Inc. Featuring: Graphic Perf® By Arktura
Perhaps design limitations don’t allow for any open-air space where a canopy might provide aesthetic wonder. In that situation, we’ll turn to even more underrated design techniques: aesthetic facades and building envelopes. Any large building will have its walls and insulation completed before an exterior sheathing of some kind goes up, but the choices don’t have to be limited to just windows or flat walls.
“Elysian Fields” Los Angeles, CA, Warren Techentin (Architect), Inc. Featuring: Graphic Perf® By Arktura
At this artist’s loft called Elysian Fields in Los Angeles, Warren Techentin Architecture enlisted Arktura to design a unique exterior façade from aluminum. The patterning itself is already an aesthetic wonder, but window cutouts with curved aluminum panels take dynamic design into the realm of performative sun screening. Consider the limitless opportunities that exist to elevate a building’s exterior once it has been designed.
“Ballpark Square” Washington, D.C., Gensler (Architect), Prakash Patel (Photography). Featuring: Graphic Perf® By Arktura
An intriguing and important point regarding canopies: they don’t have to be distinctly exterior components. At 99 M Street – Ballpark Square, the entrance canopy extends outward from the building and into the building, providing aesthetic continuity and an impressive glass-walled entryway to highlight it.
“Ballpark Square” Washington, D.C., Gensler (Architect), Prakash Patel (Photography). Featuring: Graphic Perf® By Arktura
“2100 Grand” Los Angeles, CA, HLW (Architect), Wundr Studio (Photography). Featuring: Solutions Studio® by Arktura
This modern building relies on squares and straight lines, rather than diagonals with traditional roofing, to establish a modern look. The architects go above and beyond by choosing to utilize an aluminum façade for the exterior — and a bold, red one at that.
“2100 Grand” Los Angeles, CA, HLW (Architect), Wundr Studio (Photography). Featuring: Solutions Studio® by Arktura
The perforations on the façade also help to break up and soften the giant block of red. Finally, the fact that the perforations themselves are circles — the only curves anywhere on this structure — is a deft touch when creating a striking exterior.
“Silver Lake Screens” Los Angeles, CA, Zoltan E. Pali (Architect), Studio Pali Fekete (Architect). Featuring: Solutions Studio® by Arktura
Facades and canopies aren’t just for civic spaces and commercial buildings. For this residential home, the architects chose to take a wall of windows to the next level with a perforated, operable façade from Arktura.
“Silver Lake Screens” Los Angeles, CA, Zoltan E. Pali (Architect), Studio Pali Fekete (Architect). Featuring: Solutions Studio® by Arktura
The dark metal matches well with the bright Spanish roofing tiles to complete the color aesthetic while the “panes” of perforations provide seclusion to an opulent array of structure-wide windows. Even better, the façade panels are able to swing out and open for times when full light and view is desired.
“Elmer Knopf Learning Center” Flint, MI, Stantec, Jason Keen (Photography). Featuring: Vapor® Pixel By Arktura
Opportunities to integrate lighting with canopies abound, and Arktura delivered this canopy based on their Vapor Pixel panels for the Elmer A Knopf Learning Center. Again, we can imagine how this may have looked without any canopy. Just a regular entrance, nothing extraordinary. And yet, this “simple square” canopy full of light draws in visitors and becomes a portal to learning.
“Tesla” Santa Monica, CA, Michael W. Folonis Architects, Art Gray (Photographer). Featuring: Graphic Perf® by Arktura
With this custom exterior rain screen façade from Arktura, the trailblazing aesthetics of Tesla extend from the design room all the way to the retail floor. Custom aluminum panels bend around the Flagship Cornered Tesla Showroom to beckon customers to the innovations waiting inside.
“Lululemon” Los Angeles, CA, Diana Stevenson Moore (Photographer). Featuring: Atmosphera® Pulse by Arktura
Again, we can imagine this building without a façade. While still interesting, the entire storefront is elevated by a unique branded aluminum façade — and it’s only partial.
“Lululemon” Los Angeles, CA, Diana Stevenson Moore (Photographer). Featuring: Atmosphera® Pulse by Arktura
Standing separate from previous examples of full-wall facades, this approach shows the artistic possibilities by only partially covering the exterior, allowing the traditional brick and vertical wood lap siding of the structure to intermingle with a modern, asymmetrical yet geometrical façade.
“Tysons – 1676 International Drive” Tysons, VA, Perkins + Will. Halkin Mason (Photographer). Featuring: Solutions Studio® by Arktura
Part canopy and part façade, this impressive installation creates a true portal into the building. Perforated aluminum paneling from Arktura is studded with starlike lighting that takes control of any passerby’s attention while offering building residents an exciting transfer into their world. If there’s one way to dramatically improve an exterior with wonder, this is it.
“Brick & Machine” Culver City, CA, Abramson Architects, Sean Costello (Photography). Featuring: Solutions Studio® by Arktura
Bright blue aluminum operable panels in this project show off artistry and function. There’s no denying that windows are great, especially lots of them to allow in floor-to-ceiling light. And yet, that doesn’t have to be the final exterior aesthetic. By way of the arresting blue colors and seeming randomness of the panels, an otherwise symmetrical exterior window design is enlivened.
Here at Arktura, we have made a name for ourselves by reimagining interior design with state-of-the-art ceiling and wall panels, but the majesty doesn’t have to be contained only within. Reach out to our experts at Arktura today to discuss how aluminum canopies and facades might fulfill the added touch necessary to fully complete a project.
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