Visual Arts Building, University of Iowa 2016
Steven Holl
Iowa City, USA
THE PROJECT
The Visual Arts Building is a 126,000 square foot space for the departments of ceramics, sculpture, metals, photography, print making and multimedia at Iowa University. It contains studios, offices, and gallery spaces. (1) The building was commissioned in 2013 after severe flooding in June 2008. It was the 5th worst natural disaster in US history and saw $800million worth of damages to the university (2). The original Art building built in 1936 was declared unsalvageable by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (3) The $77 million new building sits next to Steven Holl’s 2006 Arts Building West. The project is essentially a large cube with 7 cuts, that channel daylight deep within the building (2). Environmental design was at the core of the project, earning the building a LEED silver certificate for eco-friendly energy efficiency. The building is naturally ventilated by means of its skylight and operable windows. It also has a HUAC system that recovers potentially lost thermal energy. (3) These, along with the innovative heating and cooling slab system reduced the buildings energy consumption by 46% (1). Another key concept behind Holl’s design was the interconnection of spaces and people. He designed the atrium space for this purpose. The large staircase levels off into open zone and lounge areas, designed for students and staff to mingle and converge. The rest of the building diverts into loft-like spaces with concrete surroundings and exposed pipes and ducts. (2). The building a whole is a beautifully crafted volume of space and light that plays tribute to Stevens Holl’s genius. The layers interlap to create a series of outdoor balconies and informal meeting spaces. (1)
THE ARCHITECT
Steven Holl is the founder and head of Steven Holl Architects, a 35-person office that is split between Beijing and New York. He has worked internationally, published numerous texts, and lectured in a number of Universities. He is currently a faculty member of Columbia University where he has taught since 1981 (1). He is known for his ability to integrate space, light, and material. Holl is a firm believer in the philosophy of daylight in terms of health and wellbeing as well as its artistry. Each of Holl’s projects are centred around a unique spatial identity, with daylight acting as an essential material. He employs imagination and experimentation to create a sensation, and uses science and technology to define his ideas for daylight design. (4) His projects responds to various different cultures and climates with sustainable building of huge importance in each.
Location
The project is located in Iowa City, Iowa, a midwestern state in the USA. The campus blends into the city and is very much a part of it. It experiences a humid continental climate with hot summers and cold winters. Precipitation is high in summer months with snowfall in winters. Flooding is often caused by melting snow in the spring. Iowa experiences relatively high levels of daylight throughout the year with longer days in the summer than winter months. Its location on site means that it receives high exposure to its south western and south eastern facades.
DAYLIGHT DESIGN
The Visual Arts Building is a daylight filled space. Daylight acts as a functional and energy efficient feature, almost eliminating the need for artificial lighting. It also contributes to the spatial quality of the building, highlighting the curves and shapes as well as connecting the varies spaces and levels. Furthermore, it heightens the materiality, bouncing across the white painted concrete, creating an internal glow.
Holl’s strategy of creating ‘multiple layers of light’ sees natural light and natural ventilation rooted in deep floor plates (1). Six scoops or cut-outs in the building’s façade allow daylight further inside the building. (2). These cut-outs of channel glass give a unique character and form to the external building. They also promote Holl’s ideas of interconnection and crossover by connecting the four levels.
The buildings core is an irregularly shaped atrium space that forms the seventh and largest cut-out. It is intended to be a social space with a staircase and ramps that break off into lounge and landing areas. Reaching from the ground floor to the roof, it is topped by a central skylight that fills the space with natural light.
On the southern facades a Rheinzink skin of perforated stainless-steel panels acts as a sunshade. The patterned shield rests five inches away from the zinc cladding and windows below (2). The screen modulates light to reduce solar gain while optimising natural light within. It reduces the intensity of the southern sun as well as solar glare, to allow for a more comfortable indoor environment.
Various sized square windows illuminate many of the internal studios and meeting spaces. (2) These follow the Fibonacci series to form a geometric pattern that complements the buildings overall ideas of cube structures and carved out spaces.
Steven Holl manages to achieve a daylight sensation in his Visual Arts Building. He succeeds in bringing light deep into the architecture through his innovative design of form. The large cube-like building poses challenges in terms of achieving a high enough quantity and quality of light to illuminate the internal spaces. The carefully placed cut-outs succeed in channelling daylight further into the building by scooping out sections of the façade. The atrium skylight allows for the natural illumination of a space unexposed to external windows. Holl ensures visual comfort throughout the building by controlling the intensity of the sunlight it receives. He pays attention to the orientation of the building, protecting the southern facades from glare and intense brightness with a rhinezink skin. Through plan, structure, and materiality Holl ensures an even dispersion of light. Furthermore, he explores the beauty of natural light and celebrates its ability to create an aesthetic experience. In the Visual Arts Centre, daylight hugs the unique contours of the indoor environment, giving it a spatial identity. The visual wonder of natural light is reflected in the materiality; bouncing off the white walls and concrete flooring to create a clear, bright environment.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. STEVEN HOLL ARCHITECTS [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 25]. Available from: https://www.stevenholl.com/about
2. Visual Arts Building at the University of Iowa by Steven Holl Architects | 2016-11-01 | Architectural Record [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 25]. Available from: https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/11969-visual-arts-building-at-the-university-of-iowa-by-steven-holl-architects
3. University of Iowa celebrates opening of Visual Arts Building - ProQuest [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 25]. Available from: https://search-proquest-com.ucd.idm.oclc.org/docview/1826883356?accountid=14507&pq-origsite=summon
4. Steven Holl - The Daylight Award [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 25]. Available from: http://thedaylightaward.com/steven-holl/
Diagrams:
Cedar Rapids, Iowa - Sunrise, sunset, dawn and dusk times for the whole year.
Map and satellite photograph:
Visual Arts Building - Google Maps [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 25]. Available from: https://www.google.ie/maps/place/Visual+Arts+Building/@41.6665081,-91.5356104,14z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x87e4418b66f4fc37:0x5edc4af646c4c31d!8m2!3d41.6661234!4d-91.5416185
Photographs:
Gallery of Visual Arts Building at the University of Iowa / Steven Holl Architects - 4 [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 25]. Available from: https://www.archdaily.com/796941/visual-arts-building-at-the-university-of-iowa-steven-holl-architects/57f805c4e58ece3e7b0000fc-visual-arts-building-at-the-university-of-iowa-steven-holl-architects-photo
Visual Arts Building at the University of Iowa by Steven Holl Architects | 2016-11-01 | Architectural Record [Internet]. [cited 2020 Oct 25]. Available from: https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/11969-visual-arts-building-at-the-university-of-iowa-by-steven-holl-architects
