The Origami Building

Taking inspiration from the Japanese paper-folding art of origami, Manuelle Gautrand Architecture has dressed up the façade of the French headquarters of Barclays bank in what looks like a random series of folded “pages” of marble using the medium of digitally printed glass with ceramic ink. This project was a renewal of an old building, in a historic and luxurious area of Paris. The visual modernization had to be in keeping with the surrounding buildings, bringing new beauty to the area without radically changing it.

The architects had originally planned to use real marble for the façade but opted for digitally printed glass in order to maintain control of structural and aesthetic quality. Using digitally printed glass avoided the danger of decrystallization that can occur with extremely thin slices of marble.

ARCHITECT

Manuelle Gautrand

GLASS PRINTING

Interpane Sicherheitsglas Gmbh

PRINTED AREA

900 sqm

NUMBER OF PANELS

962

TYPE OF GLASS

66.2 opt white TVG

laminated glass

COMPLETION

2011

PHOTOGRAPHS

Vincent Fillon