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What materials were gold leaves put on in Fondazione Prada building in Milan?

AnnaJ234

I know the so-called Haunted House is covered in 200,000 gold leaves, but I can't find any information on which material they were put on, i.e. what's under it. Was it simply concrete or something else?

 
Dec 3, 24 11:04 am

gold leaf kind of tells you somewhat what a core ingredient in it is. Read up on gold leaf and especially historic gold leaf but commonly so even in modern day gold leaf. Gold leaf is made from gold and sometimes made with silver and copper as a admixture into the gold leaf. 

As for the structural material, it's probably concrete or portland cement based stucco wall finish (maybe EIFS in the worst case scenario) but if you contact Rem Koolhaas's firm that worked on the design or any of the firms including the contractors that built it, they can confirm it. Given it was made in more recent times, concrete is a likely material. However, it can be other possible materials and many options in how it is constructed. Maybe contact OMA about it.

Dec 3, 24 11:22 am  · 
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OddArchitect

When is your assignment due AnnaJ234?


Dec 3, 24 3:20 pm  · 
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JLC-1

Mostly stucco. but also wood, steel and tin.

Dec 3, 24 3:45 pm  · 
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One reason I hold the possibility of the building building concrete is another building in the set of buildings that was designed by Rem Koolhaas in the project area of this campus site was concrete. Therefore, it is possible that it is also concrete. It is not unusual that concrete buildings is finished coated with a cement stucco which is basically portland cement and sand (sand being used instead of course aggregate but sand serves as aggregate but finer for the smoother cement finishes and sometimes other types of surface finish texturing is done. Gold leaf can be applied to the surface of that cement stucco finish which is bonded to the concrete once its scratched up enough to create a keying area for stucco to bond and hold. Sounds like a student project but if the student spent time to contact the firm that did it, the exact information would be known. In real life, you'd do that if you need to. Otherwise, you go to the site and look, investigate, and determine how it is built especially if you work for a firm that would be involved in some future project involving the building.

Dec 3, 24 3:56 pm  · 
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smaarch

Forgive my ignorance: is it not possible to install gold leaf on steel?

Dec 3, 24 9:42 pm  · 
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