The pixel is a symbol of the digital age, an almost limitless source of color patterns, which is already very widespread in modern architecture. The effect of pixelation: when the blurring of a bitmap image is replaced by alternating colored rectangles when zooming in, architects use it as an intrinsic decorative motif. Sometimes he helps them to come to terms with the gigantic scale of buildings, sometimes - to confuse the viewer, turning the surface of the facade into a kind of motley "skin", getting rid of the boredom of a regular rhythm and refreshing the impression. Painters, however, have been familiar with the technique for a long time - they have been studying it since the time of the pointillism of Georges Seurat, in architecture, the motive has taken root since the 1990s, despite the fact that all the conditions for it were created already when, following the development of technology, external the wall ceased to be a load-bearing wall, retaining only the function of a shell - and Le Corbusier interpreted this fact philosophically. So the pixels, scattered along the facade with seeming freedom, have their predecessors and relatives: for example, houses-piles of cubic blocks, the famous Habitat, can be imagined as a variant of pixelation in volume.
The name is, obviously, inherited from computer graphics, where (for now) any raster image consists of small dots that merge as they move away. The term "pixel art" was first used in 1982, although the graphics themselves appeared ten years earlier: artists painted small pictures, icons and characters of computer games literally point by point. When enlarged, these images acquired a characteristic "checkered" appearance. However, in order to achieve the effect, it is enough to enlarge any photograph six hundred times in a computer program. The essence of pixelation, by the way, is precisely in the fact that rectangles, usually of the same shape and size, do not change their color arbitrarily - it is implicitly assumed that there is something more behind them that we cannot see, although we can guess. One must think that this background justification, the presumption of non-randomness and inclusion in something, with the seeming freedom and chaos, has become the reason for the popularity of the technique. *** From the history
Habitat-67 residential complex in Montreal / Moshe Safdie
Residential complex Habitat-67 was built in the Canadian city of Montreal in 1967 for the architectural and construction exhibition Expo-67. The complex consists of 354 blocks connected to each other according to the Lego construction set, which creates a multi-layered and complex structure composition. Each of the cubes contains rooms of individual apartments. The protruding roofs are given over to open terraces with a green garden.
Pixel volumes
Skyscrapers in Shaoxing / Liu Xiang
The skyscrapers are planned to house a new center of culture and creativity, designed by the Chinese-American architect Liu Xiang. The complex is located along the Shaoxing embankment and consists of three high-rise towers united by a stylobate. The pixel breakdown of slender volumes reminds of the conventional landscapes of old computer games, and the expressive multi-stage completion of the towers, according to the author's plan, reacts to the dynamic movement of the river.
Sheung Wan Hotel / Heatherwick Studio
Another "pixel" skyscraper was built by Thomas Heatherwick (Heatherwick Studio). The tower is made of concrete and metal cubes of various sizes, which spontaneously protrude on the smooth canvas of the facade and seem to be a random program failure. In fact, the 40-storey hotel with 300 rooms is quite consistent with the author's idea of the endless movement of decaying and re-connecting particles.
Residential building in Taipei / BIG
The Taipei City Wall residential building is proposed to be built in Taipei (Taiwan) under the BIG project. Architects play with the techniques of pixel design, composing a creative volume from many regular cubes, each of which contains a separate apartment. The bright colors, the unusual shape of the blocks and the individual green terraces for each tenant, coupled with thoughtful ventilation and natural light, make this home very attractive against the background of standard housing.
Pixel facades
Residential complex Tera 11 in Nanterre / X-TU architects
In the project of the 12-storey residential complex Tera 11, its authors, architects of the bureau X-TU architects, create a pixel image not due to volumetric solutions, but due to a special coloring of the facade. The building consists of five rectangular volumetric elements that grow from a common basement part. The extended facades of the complex are glazed. The glass has a special pixel pattern in gray shades. Deep niches of bright yellow color against this restrained background seem to be random, "broken" pixels.
Jinan Cultural Center / AS architecture-studio
The Cultural Center was built on the occasion of the 10th Chinese Arts Festival by the AS architecture-studio bureau. The authors explain that the project was based on the image of the mountain of a thousand Buddhas and thermal springs located in the Jinan region. The splashes of hot fountains erupting from the ground are depicted on the facades of the center with the help of aluminum panels of varying degrees of transparency, superimposed on each other. Many openings of various shapes and sizes dot the walls of the complex, letting in a sufficient amount of light into the interior.
FRAC Contemporary Art Center / Kengo Kuma & Associates
The FRAC Contemporary Art Center was designed for the French city of Marseille. The building of the center was built in one of the picturesque areas of the city of Joliette. The facade is formed by movable glass panels that can rotate around their axis. Situated at different angles and reflecting sunlight in different ways, these panels create a dynamic pixelated image that changes depending on the lighting and rotation of the “pixel” panels.
Pixel interiors
Yandex office in St. Petersburg / Za Bor
In interiors, the theme of pixels is used no less actively than in the design of the external appearance of buildings. Examples of pixel interiors also appear in domestic practice. Thus, the designers of the Moscow studio Za Bor have come up with an unusual interior of the Yandex office, in which pixels play the main role. Here, the unexpected neighborhood of tiny pixel Yandex icons, turned into huge 3D objects, and multiply enlarged pixels used in the design of the walls - three-dimensional and multi-colored, amazes.
