Sky Courts is a 20,000 sqf corporate club house that incorporate short-term housing, office space, and entertainment facilities utilizing the logics of the courtyard and sloped roof.
The project packs several courtyards into a defined perimeter and utilizes the sloped roof to accommodate program in the wedge between courtyards, allowing the project to read as 100% courtyard from above.
The complex lacks a single center; instead it is a network with multiple centers, and multiple paths, edges and liners.
The sequence through these precincts creates a series of layered spaces that line exterior spaces, and views from one courtyard might look through perimeter spaces and into other courtyards.
The layering of interiors and exteriors creates a varied sequence through the complex. The roof geometry consists of a series of inward sloping roofs.
The roof profile varies to create the impression of a landscape of peaks and valleys. The alternating inclinations of the major ridge lines produce a varied roofscape and cause the roof planes to twist.
By maintaining a constant eave line and varying the perimeter, each plane on the roof is a hyperbolic ruled surface.
The use of a ceramic tile uses the gap between units as well as the fine grain of the tile, to absorb the non planar roof condition.
The ceramic tile, with a built in capacity to absorb tolerance between units aggregates to produce a twisting roofscape configuration.
The project exploits a specific building material to achieve a larger geometrical effect.
Location: Chengdu, China
Architects: Höweler + Yoon Architecture
Architects: Höweler + Yoon Architecture
Area: 20,000 sq ft
Year: 2012
Photographs: Yihuai Hu, Courtesy of Höweler + Yoon Architecture