Royal Embassy Academy

For the façade covering of the new Royal Embassy Academy in Vietnam, the CIRCLE has imagined a system of translucent fabric elements that shade and protect the internal activities in the various buildings of the complex, bringing them together in a single large architectural object with a light appearance. The Royal Embassy Academy is an ambitious educational project intended to put together performance arts and sporting activities; the perception of the location must be that of a single arena, where activities are interconnected, wrapped beneath the same “dress”. The idea of “folding” this dress, as tailors do with the pleating technique, generates changing angles, sculptural effects and changing light games to further emphasise the idea of dressing the academy.
This surface is translucent, breathable and designed to be opened and closed mechanically, so as to respond quickly and effectively to weather conditions. The back-lighting, integrated into the frames with Led lighting strips running along the external vertical fold, creates coloured and changing light effects.