Moveable doors

Student centers are increasingly seen as live-learn hubs for today’s growing colleges and universities. More than places to relax, socialize, snack and study, the best examples become campus destinations: a magnet for social life and a microcosm of the entire institution. THE STUDENT CENTER THAT DOES IT ALL The trend is exemplified at Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina. At the core of its student center is a soaring atrium with a three-story climbing wall, as well as the Frank Stewart Hall, a large and adaptable performance space that serves as an auditorium and banquet hall, or as a coffeehouse, club room or study area when its operable walls are lowered. Two Skyfold Classic™ 51 walls retract vertically into a ceilin... More

Skyfold Classic™ 51 converts floor area from a service corridor into functional space for this ultra-modern, high-tech Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in Vancouver. THE RENOVATION Capturing back-of-house hotel space for front-of-house use is no easy feat. Yet, that’s what a last-minute retrofit achieved in a clever reworking of the award-wining design of the Fairmont Pacific Rim, a five-star hotel featuring modern interiors. A brainstorming session for increasing floor area and flexibility of the function rooms led to the idea of opening the walls to a shared service corridor and kitchen to expand the hotel’s popular ballrooms.Two ballrooms—one large and the other small—were originally separated by the corrido... More

On the 25th floor of an office building in downtown Montreal, a masterclass in design engineering, collaboration and retrofitting took place between Skyfold engineers and architects. THE DESIGN CHALLENGE  HUMÀ design + architecture was tasked with redesigning a multipurpose conference room for law firm BCF. The conference rooms were being used for client meeting spaces and employee training. In both cases, privacy and noise control were top concerns. In the original design concept, HUMÀ was considering traditional movable walls, but limited floor space meant that storage closets on the floor for horizontal panels were out of the question. Instead, HUMÀ, wanted to give their clients a flexible space solution t... More

A house presented Otto Walker Architects with dramatic views and a choice site. Using a mix of raw timbers and chunky, native stones, Otto developed a concept that responded to the client’s specific wishes.“The materials are intrinsic to the area, and it’s still a bit of an Alpine feel that just seems to make sense there,” says Otto. “The client wanted lots of views, and indoor/outdoor living was also a component. Everybody wants to do some cooking outdoors.”In this case, the use of an opening glass wall was “kind of a program requirement,” says the architect. “The owners definitely wanted a large opening in that location – it was a deck.” Otto / Walker specified the highly weather-resistant NanaWall WA67, a thermally broken, aluminum foldi... More