How do you design a gradient perforated façade like the one at Centro Financiero Davivienda?

What the Centro Financiero Davivienda façade has

The project record says three things, and this guide adds nothing more: it's a bank headquarters in El Salvador; the cladding is perforated Screenpanel with a special pattern drawn for the project; and the perforation runs from dense to open within the same panel, so the skin lightens as it rises. The third point is the interesting one. Instead of switching panels to change density, the gradient lives inside each piece, so the transition reads as continuous, with no jumps between panels.

See the photos on the project page and the rest of the portfolio at projects.

How a perforation gradient works

A perforated panel is described by its open area: the share of the surface that is holes. With the same material, more open area lets more light, air and outward view through; less open area gives more shade and hides more of what's behind. A gradient distributes that open area according to what each zone needs. By day, from the street, the skin looks almost solid where the perforation is dense; at night, with the interior lit, the reading flips and the pattern glows from inside.

How to specify it, step by step

• 1 · Zones. Mark on the elevation what each band needs: privacy towards the street, shade from the afternoon sun, views from the offices, ventilation for plant.
• 2 · Pattern on the defined module. Draw the perforation as a vector on the real panel grid, so no figure gets cut at a joint.
• 3 · Material and finish. Screenpanel XL comes in aluzinc, corten or aluminium and installs vertically or horizontally; it accepts perforation, CNC laser cutting or a random perforation the client creates.
• 4 · Structure. The substructure and anchors are designed per project for the site's wind load; a perforated skin still takes wind.
• 5 · Sample before production. Ask for a test piece with the real pattern and look at it by day and by night. Data sheets and samples at specifiers.

Other perforated skins in the region

LuxaLine Arquitectura, the architectural division of Grupo ConstruMarket, is an authorized Hunter Douglas distributor in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama: it specifies, supplies and installs as an integrated package, with the group supervising every project.

• Edificio ALPHA: three different hole diameters depending on each façade's orientation.
• Banco Cuscatlán: variable-density perforation in a copper finish that filters sun without closing the view; from inside the pattern reads as a grid of light.
• Hyatt Centric: a pattern that isn't from a catalogue, drawn for the wall.
• Edificio ACOFINGES: dark perforated Quadroline; the grid spacing filters the western sun. If the issue is mainly sun, also compare the guide on louvres and solar control.

Common mistakes

• Perforating without knowing what each zone needs

  A gradient makes sense when it responds to something: privacy, sun or view. Without that it's just expensive decoration.

• Drawing the pattern without the module

  If the drawing ignores the joints, figures get cut between panels. Design on the real grid.

• Thinking only about daytime

  At night, with interior light, the skin reads the other way round. Check the sample in both lights.

• Anchoring without a wind calculation

  A perforated skin still takes wind. Substructure and anchors are designed per project.

Frequently asked questions