Skins

The façade is the main surface through which architecture mediates, contextualizes, and expresses itself. It plays a dual role: regulating the interior environment while engaging with the external world in all its forms. Through the design process, Park seeks to analyze, interweave, and systematize all the elements related to the building envelope, aiming for a synthesis of values tailored to each individual project.

METHODOLOGY

The study of building envelopes has become an interdisciplinary field and a core area of research and innovation. The complexity of façade design is a challenge Park has been tackling for over twenty years. As a key component of the design process, it is approached with a rigorous, creative, and technical-scientific method built on the studio’s know-how and the specific skills of all involved actors.

In the creative phase, our workflow adopts the same principles as the scientific method—starting with a brainstorming of ideas that are then analyzed and tested. The most suitable solutions are identified and refined through a reiterative process of development and evaluation, resulting in a unique and precise outcome for each project.

MEANINGS

Façades are, first and foremost, structures that insert themselves into existing scenarios - urban or otherwise. They represent the clearest and most explicit expression of the building’s relationship with its context.
The envelope takes on the role of a “skin,” acting as a threshold between inside and outside- regulating the building’s and its occupants’ biological rhythms - while also becoming an increasingly advanced management and control system, with strong technological components.

Technological analysis, constant attention to scale transitions, and precision in both urban and construction details are essential in our design process, especially in a construction industry marked by growing complexity and specialization.
Moreover, the envelope plays a decisive role in determining a building’s impact, making it crucial to adopt solutions that consider materials, techniques, and the full life cycle of each component.

PILLARS

Skins encapsulates Park's vision and methodology regarding the architectural envelope and is structured around four key pillars that guide every process:
01. Façade design is always a collective effort. As a multidisciplinary field, it involves various professionals with distinct expertise.
02. One method, many outcomes. Applying the scientific method to the creative process provides a consistent framework, yet always leads to diverse results.
03. Tradition and reinterpretation. Rooted in our cultural context, we explore architectural elements, meanings, and symbols to create new ones.
04. Values. As the main interface of architecture, the envelope synthesizes cultural, environmental, economic, and social dimensions. Our approach embraces this responsibility by highlighting sensitive issues and consistently making conscious choices.