VITAVEIL - From Cloth to Biophilic Facade

Client: Real Developments

Location: The Netherlands

Status: Development

Observation as Design Trigger

During a location visit, our eye was drawn to an unexpected spatial gesture. A resident had tied a cloth across their balcony in a carefully folded, symmetrical way. Not random. Likely for sun or privacy. But above all, a spatial solution to a spatial need.

For Studio NousNous, such moments are more than coincidence. They are traces of real-life adaptation. We treat these gestures as true real life data, signals of human behaviour that speak before words.

From Gesture to Geometry

What if we treat this cloth not as a temporary fix, but as an initiator of form? We studied its folds, proportions, and rhythm, translating the soft logic of fabric into a new architectural layer. The symmetry became structure. The informal became formalised. The shape, once tied by hand, now informed a metamorphosis. A nature-inspired wing. A grounded sail. A moment of human expression turned into architectural identity.

Biophilic Design in the Everyday

The resulting facade elements echo our approach to biophilic design. Not by simply adding green, but by layering natural logic into structure, material, and form. The gesture of the cloth is honoured, expanded, and made permanent shaping the building with emotional and functional depth.

We replaced the balcony wooden horizontal slats with vertical panels with a more rough relief texture, the V-form (VitaVeil) is defined by small Voronoi- and leaf-like biophilic patterns that mirror organic geometries. Vertical glass panels were added on both sides to keep the space transparent yet refined.

This project explores biophilic thinking at the level of detail, grounded in an acute awareness of social behavior, where even an improvised cloth can spark a broader transition toward nature-integrated cities.

Materialisation and Presence

The new facade elements are executed in a copper-turquoise material, echoing the shape of the original cloth. Rather than neutralising the intervention, the expressive copper tone we embraced with a reason. Sustainable and this choice creates contrast with the new vertically textured stone panels, which now replace the original brickwork. Together they introduce a fresh, nature-referencing rhythm to the building. Over time, the copper will age, patinate and deepen in character, allowing the facade to evolve and settle into its green surroundings.