Rob Gregory dons his clad rags and hits the town.

501 HAVER & BOECKER

This so-called ballgown facade in The Hague features 12 square metres of wire cloth from Haver Architectural Wire Cloth. Woven and tailored from stainless-steel wire cloth, the ballgown is part of the integrated revitalisation of this neighbourhood. The architect's plan includes eight historical plots. The woven stainless-steel alloy uses a weave type DOKA-MONO 1771. cut-to-size into elements up to 2.0 x 1.5 metres. The dress was stabilised using a sub-construction developed by Haver & Boecker, made from galvanised steel and painted in aluminium colour.

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Enquiry 501 www.arplus.com/enq.html

502 OKALUX

David Chipperfield's new public library of Des Moines, Iowa, USA (right above), features a 3500m2 metallic sheen glass facade. Purpose-designed for this project, OKALUX, based in Marktheidenfeld, Germany developed an insulating glass panel with an expanded copper inter-layer. The semi-transparent layer acts as a directionally selective daylight system performing a sunshade function and creating a softly diffused light inside the library Currently on site, OKALUX have also been involved with Steven Holl on the design of the new Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, in Kansas City, Missouri (right below), which features OKAPANE, a light-emitting insulation panel that sits within a glazed plank system.

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Enquiry 502 www.arplus.com/enq.html

503 NOVELIS GOTTINGEN

Rene van Zuuk's Wave comprises 49 lakeside apartments. The building's fish-scale facade features Novelis FF2[R] sheeting. The 2mm thick aluminium sheeting is fixed with stainless-steel bolts and PVDF washers on a substructure that was little more than a series of 20 x 60mm timber slats. The sheeting was simply overlapped horizontally with 0.7mm thick Novelis Falzonal[R] material in the same colour. The sheets were also edged at the bottom to prevent water running from one sheeting element to the next.

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Enquiry 503 www.arplus.com/enq.html

504 PERMASTEELISA

Permasteelisa were responsible for the 16 000m2 envelope on Jean Nouvel's recently completed Torre Agbar, built by Layetana. The shape of the 142m high tower recalls the Monserrat mountains and its seemingly random perforations and colour create an illusion of moving water. The concrete shell is covered in aluminium and sheathed in thousands of panes of glass (1200x300m), some transparent, some translucent.

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Enquiry 504 www.arplus.com/enq.html