It was clear from the beginning of the project that the budget was limited and that we had to make more with less.

With this in mind we thought about using the façade as a graphic display. The way to accomplish this was to write the address numbers on it using the grid of the window and door grid modules as low resolution 'pixels' to become part of the numbers. The rest of the numbers would be drawn at a higher resolution via different strategies.

Unconventional steel canopies over the access door and the window on the front façade would comply with the district's design guidelines and provide shade –important in this extreme weather– while providing an interesting design element to the façade.

The canopies complete the top part of the first two address numbers.

The use of rebar on the canopies was both practical and conceptually interesting. The idea is using a construction element that is always buried in concrete in a way in which it makes the main element on the façade: The steel canopies. 

The bottom part of the first two numbers is completed by striping paint off the façade exposing the masonry that makes the walls of the building and the third number completes with decals on glass and steel plates attached to the wall.

The better defined numbers with the less defined window and door 'pixels' create an interesting contrasting graphic display –low resolution and high resolution– that is understandable and yet not entirely demarcated. The doors and window elements are part of the graphics, and the graphics are part of the building.