Canvas: Second skin façade

Cepezed is a Delft-based architecture firm that has been operating since 1973. Its projects range from office and workspaces to living, education, and healthcare buildings. They place usability, health, airiness and above all sustainability at the forefront of their design philosophy.

Cepezed innovated a new façade material for its renovation of Westraven, an office building in Utrecht. Canvas, a Teflon-coated glass fibre ‘second skin’, is a semi-transparent outer façade that acts as both windbreak and sunblind. By allowing wind through small holes in the material, it relieves wind pressure from the interior façade while also creating an air flow that can cool the building. Though functioning as a sunshade, the material leaves the view intact and acts as an aesthetic component for continuity and airiness for the building as a whole. Finally, the system provides a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to mechanical ventilation, as it naturally maintains a consistent climate inside the building.