Leading the knippershelbig Facades team in Stuttgart and New York allows Roman the opportunity to work on unique, challenging projects all over the world. One such project was the addition of the
Kinder Building to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH), Houston, Texas, USA. An unconventional design by Steven Holl Architects allows the museum’s art to be viewed under natural light. Daylight’s changing dynamic adds variance of color and brightness to the exhibits versus traditional, artificial lighting.
With an ingenious façade made up of 1,150 laminated, translucent glass tubes using four translucent Vanceva® Arctic Snow PVB interlayers for the outermost exterior walls and an opaque weather wall with large punched windows behind the glass tubes, the project team was able to control the natural light coming into the interior space while protecting the art from damaging UV rays. At night, these same glass tubes glow with a soft artificial light, creating a luminous streetscape.