Terra Cotta

For Boston Valley Terra Cotta’s Architectural Ceramic Assemblies Workshop (ACAW) we led a collaborative team of Heintges and TriPyramid to reimagine traditional terra cotta by prototyping a modular screen. Inspired by organic forms and traditional espalier trees, V-Soleil creates a diamond-patterned screen in which pairs of interlocking v-shaped terra cotta modules are arranged on a double-layer tension-net structure. The brise soleil applies formal, structural, and solar shading properties to the scale and efficiency of a building envelope.

From prototype to application, our work on V-Soleil explored terra cotta as we were designing a new education and welcome Center at The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. At Green-Wood, custom glazed terra cotta baguettes in burgundy define a dynamic, modern façade and materially references the Richard Upjohn-designed arched brownstone gate and the adjacent Victorian greenhouse’s copper roof.