{"id":1462,"date":"2013-03-12T06:30:04","date_gmt":"2013-03-12T13:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/compositesandarchitecture.com\/?p=1462"},"modified":"2013-03-02T23:42:27","modified_gmt":"2013-03-03T07:42:27","slug":"above-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kreysler.zaab.org\/?p=1462","title":{"rendered":"Above All"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new Public Service Hall\u00a0in\u00a0Tbilisi, Georgia, which opened in Autumn 2012, appears to have a split personality.\u00a0 Designed by\u00a0Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas<\/b><\/a>, the 28,000 m2<\/sup> complex consists of seven very rectilinear glass volumes that house the offices of the National Bank of Georgia, the Minister of Energy, and the Civil and National Registry, grouped around a large atrium that serves as open public space.<\/p>\n

Covering, hovering over, the entire building are cluster of 11 sheltering white \u201cpetals,\u201d free-standing roofs in rounded organic shapes, supported by tall white steel stems. They have been likened to trees, or giant mushrooms.\u00a0 They also might recall a certain high-end brand of potato chip.<\/p>\n

The petals are made of <\/b>glass fiber and epodossic resin on a steel frame.\u00a0 Their opaque whiteness and soft contours seem like the exact opposite of the structures over which they billow.<\/p>\n

But what an eloquent architectural statement.\u00a0 The government offices are very business-like, squared and subdivided and regular, and unusually transparent.\u00a0 That is how the government is envisioned to function.\u00a0 But the greater purpose of government is expressed in the petals: a protective, sheltering umbrella that makes an open space into a community, an organic growth, a development of nature \u2013 human nature \u2013 to join together for the common good.<\/p>\n

Images copyright Studio Fuksas, via archdaily.com:\u00a0 “Tbilisi Public Service Hall \/ Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas” 16 Oct 2012. ArchDaily.<\/span><\/cite><\/a><\/p>\n

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