Gabion latticework (075)

This façade is not watertight and it is not airtight. Depending on the density and size of the stones, it protects against direct sun radiation but without managing the visual relationship with the outside. It considerably blocks the entry of light, gives privacy and protects from intrusion. If it is true that, together with a drained cavity, it would constitute a watertight envelope, but it seems that this is not the case here.

This is a formal resource that Herzog & de Meuron proposed, very appropriately, for Dominus Winery. It has inspired many other works, sometimes in blind façades and sometimes not, as is the case here. In this second situation, the important thing is to understand that what is reproduced is not the object (gabions) but the effect of light when it crosses them in a certain orientation, with a certain size and density of stone.

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