What junped to mind, though it rotates and does not roll, is the NASA Memorial by Holt Hinshow Pfau Wesley

This is the best website I could find from a quick google.

You may also want to look at Albert Kahn and other architects and engineers who worked on large manufacturing plants from the 20's to the 50's. There are a lot of rail-driven cranes and lifts that had to be integrated into the architecture.

But I also must ask, why'd you clip the bottom of the screen like that - how am I supposed to read the sub-titles on all of the pretentious artsy movies that I am going to watch on that big screen?

check out the work of diller scofidio (eyebeam, highline)


and LTL
pamphlet 21:situation normal (filmplex) and here

the lower image is not filmplex, btw

While this is neither a precedent or a facade, I recall seeing very tall frames that rolled away from the launching pad right before a shuttle launch...its a simple moment frame that I suppose you can stretch a membrane within..or it can simply pivot on a corner axis like a large door? It would likely need a rail system or concentric roller pad. Another example os the Milwaukke Brewers (Miller Stadium) roof which consists of several similar frames which nest into eachother...
I suspect the building would have multi-Story seating / balconettes exposed by the removed facade?

I will have to look into the cranes you mentioned.

I am surprised I did not run across the film image from all of my research on the highline project. I really like their work and the new Tully hall/ Juliard Project is great.

Poczatek- I had actually thought of a similar idea at the beginning based on the design of a bathroom mirror like this one:

I tried to create the joints and struts in 3ds max with the ik and bones system but was never fully successful. I think this idea could work along with a beam overhead that could act as a guide rail.

I would love a full cantilever, but i was thinking the screen could stretch into the park and then have legs come down that could lock into the ground while the screen is in place.

Any ideas about what material I could use for the facade? I had considered a perforated metal in the beginning, but I think a more flexible fabric like material would be needed for the exterior surface. Internally I had considered steel box beams along with bracing that created a web inside the structure.

Here are a couple additional images I pulled out of my test renderings along with a full blog post of the development of the facade.
Link to full post

i apologize for being glib, but why can't the facade that actually faces the open space be the screen.

You might want to look at some of Wes Jones' earlier work that has folding and collapsible elements.

i know this is not as ideal of a precedent...but when i think of moving facades i always think of the SITE's best stores.
(my first time posting images...but if it doesn't work--look at image 4&5 and 10)

The reason for not using the existing brick wall becomes complicated quickly but one simple reason is because the area adjacent to the part of the building i am using is about 15ft of land and then water so i needed a solution that would make it possible to view film in the existing ground area.

Those Best stores are great. I had actually thought of a similar idea for lifting the existing brick walls in at the beginning of the design project but didnt end up going with it.

I wish I would have seen Wes Jones' work earlier. Even some of the graphic qualities are the same as some of my work. Thanks for the suggestion.

Check this out. Don't know the name, and you probably wouldn't find anything anyway. It was designed and built by Takenaka Corporation. It's located in Osaka, Japan. The guy that designed it was a younger guy who was my supervisor while I was interning there in the summer of 2006. The first floor is a shop, the second floor is a club/performance space. The jumbotron can be moved up to allow the space to open onto the small plaza in front. Kinda cool. Sorry for the bad photo, but it was night.



We worked on a tessellated skin like yours while I was in Japan. Just making that as a fixed, water tight curtain wall was tremendously difficult. So to make it move and cantilever... Unless you've found the Allspark, could be close to impossible.

i was referring to the adjacent facade; the one facing the green space or pool or whatever that stuff is in front of the building with the cute arched windows.

when the facade moves into place is the side of the building open to the elements? if it is, it's a facade, if it is not, it is an armature, similar to something calatrava might dream up while masturbating.