Selective Insulation, Davidson Rafailidis

Selective Insulation, Davidson Rafailidis

Selective Insulation is a project by the Berlin architects to create insulated work spaces inside of a larger room. It started as an artist’s studio in Hexham UK.  The old school house used as an artist’s facility had chilly working conditions. In the cold season, the building, built in 1849, requires intensive heating in order to keep it thermally comfortable. One conventional approach to solving the temperature problem would be to line the inner side of the stone walls with a new layer of insulation. But the architects thought that they could maybe insulate the building in a more strategic way.

 So Instead of insulating the whole building they chose one space and let the pocket of warmth shape the workspace that includes a desk a door and a window. The desk, the door, and the window are the three elements that are structural anchors, and the architects use a ‘connect the dots’ approach to create a framework for the volume. A two-ply bubble wrap, primarily used to insulate greenhouses, covers the frame to insulate the space. 

I wanted to make a model that represented the three elements used to make up this space, and how they are connected. The sketches show the window from the existing space or room, a desk, and a door that are the main elements to making this space. The second drawing shows how the edges of these elements can be turned into points and connected to make the frame of the space.

The model shows the door, window, and desk in yellow with a white frame around them showing how the frame can be made from connecting each element. I think this is a really creative solution to solving the problem of cold work spaces.