Patterned 3xLP Wall Made from Locally-Sourced Steel Wins the SKIN Digital Fabrication Competition

<a href="http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2013/11/012.html" target="_blank">University of Buffalo</a> architects designed a beautiful wall made from locally-sourced thin steel panels that doubles as a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/translucent-building-skin/" target="_blank">building skin</a>. ‘3xLP’ is an updated version of the Silo City Gateway Wall designed by the same architects, Nick Bruscia and Chris Romano. The project recently won the <a href="http://www.tex-fab.net/" target="_blank">TEX-FAB SKIN International Digital Fabrication Competition</a>, which called for designs that reimagine contemporary building facades.

The architects used ultra-strong steel fabricated at a local factory - Rigidized Metals Corporation and tested its structural potentials.

Texturing the sheet material strengthened it and allowed it to stand on its own without any additional support.

The team entered their first wall project in the TEX-FAB SKIN International Digital Fabrication Competition, and after making it to the final stage, revised the design to make it more porous and let more natural light through as it were a façade element.

Both projects are part of the university’s desire to transform Silo City from a dilapidating industrial site into a space for creative thinking.

It looks like they are making good progress as Bruscia and Romano have already converted an abandoned office building on the site into their architectural studio.

The $10,000 prize money from the competition will be used to build a prototype of 3xLP in time for the Tex-FAB 5 Conference in Austin, where it will be exhibited in February.