Pixel's Pastel Panels

Seen from a distance, say from nearby Saadiyat Island, the towers that comprise Pixel look like conventional modernist blocks with gridded windows wrapping every vertical surface. The facades are so regular it is hard to fathom the programmatic variety within: 525 apartments plus offices, shops, restaurants, wellness facilities, and community facilities. But sight of the pixelated terraces can be glimpsed between the towers — a hint at the multi-faceted nature of the program and the social hub at the heart of the complex. MVRDV actually conceptualized the project like an oyster, “with a hard outer shell that sequesters a delicate pearl inside.”

MVRDV describes its design for developer IKRAM as offering “an approach to living that is rare in the United Arab Emirates — with an emphasis on identity and a strong sense of place, an outdoor lifestyle, community spirit, and modest yet striking materials.” Clearly, these qualities are found in the village-like terraces and courtyard at the center of the towers that range in height from a dozen stories to more than twenty. The outer, gridded “shell” of the towers are made of concrete panels imprinted with a subtle oyster shell pattern courtesy of artist Nicole Martens. These panels give way to the “pixels” that give the project its name, with the upper floors of the pixelated terraces “carving” into the towers and the lower floors “tumbling” into the courtyard. The oyster metaphor is heightened by the shading screens that cover parts of the terraced pixels: 14 different pastel colors meant to “give the impression of a pearl inside the shell.”

The pastel shading panels were made by the Bavarian company MOEDING, specifically its newly developed SERATON® brick screens. The company contends that the line “provides architects with unique design possibilities. Bricks of varying sizes, colors, and arrangements can be mounted along a grid system, granting a high degree of individuality to the exterior shell.” In the case of Pixel, the panels were “tensioned onto stainless steel cables and secured with stainless steel balls in such a way that the substructure remains invisible.” As such, the panels look like blocks of color — pixels — in large three-dimensional composition that is full of them.