When to Consider the Checkerboard

Ashland Youth Center, Ashland CA, RossDrulisCusenbery Architecture

Not so sure about the checkerboard as a façade/cladding strategy – especially at the scale of the Ashland Youth Center (very recently posted on Architects’ Newspaper). It’s a one-liner that doesn’t satisfy with repeat viewings/readings and it requires slavish resolution of the interior to make it work. As mentioned before, it CAN work on larger buildings if the checkerboard grows out of standard window and spandrel dimensions – and if the complex form of the building demands a non-hierarchal and scale-less overall cladding pattern.

-Tim

Shipping and Transport College, Rotterdam, Neutelings and Riedijk