Details in Contemporary Architecture ( PDFDrive )

Christine Killory and René Davids

PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS, NEW YORK

A PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS SERIES

AsBuilt features formal and material innovation in architecture,
emphasizes structure and function, and explores the development
and application of new technologies and materials.

Published by
Princeton Architectural Press
37 East Seventh Street
New York, New York 10003

For a free catalog of books, call 1.800.722.6657.
Visit our web site at www.papress.com.

© 2007 Christine Killory and René Davids
All rights reserved
Printed and bound in China
10 09 08 07 4 3 2 1 First edition

No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner without written permission from the
publisher, except in the context of reviews.

Publication of this book has been supported by a
grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced
Studies in the Fine Arts.

Every reasonable attempt has been made to identify
owners of copyright. Errors or omissions will be
corrected in subsequent editions.

Publication of this book has been supported by
a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced
Studies in the Fine Arts.

Editor: Jennifer N. Thompson
Design: Paul Wagner

Special thanks to: Nettie Aljian, Dorothy Ball,
Nicola Bednarek, Janet Behning, Becca Casbon,
Penny (Yuen Pik) Chu, Russell Fernandez,
Pete Fitzpatrick, Wendy Fuller, Sara Hart, Jan Haux,
Clare Jacobson, Mark Lamster, Nancy Eklund Later,
Linda Lee, Katharine Myers, Lauren Nelson Packard,
Scott Tennent, Joseph Weston, and Deb Wood
of Princeton Architectural Press
—Kevin C. Lippert, publisher

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Details in contemporary architecture /
Christine Killory and René Davids, editors.—1st ed.

p. cm. — (AsBuilt)
ISBN-13: 978-1-56898-576-3
(hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Architecture—United States—Details.
2. Architecture—United States—21st century.
3. Architecture and technology—United States—
History—21st century. I. Killory, Christine, 1958-
II. Davids, René, 1949-
NA2840.D454 2006
721—dc22

2006024384

Contents

6 Preface

12 Sharp Centre for Design, Toronto, Ontario / Alsop Architects Ltd. and
Robbie/Young + Wright Architects Inc. in Joint Venture
18 Greenwich Street Project, New York, New York / Archi-tectonics
26 Maximilian’s Schell, Los Angeles, California / Ball Nogues
30 Genzyme Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts / Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner
36 Figge Museum of Art, Davenport, Iowa / David Chipperfield Architects
40 Arts Center College of Design, Pasadena, California / Daly Genik Architects
50 Nothstine Residence, Green Bay, Wisconsin / Garofalo Architects
58 BP Bridge and Great Lawn, Chicago, Illinois / Gehry Partners
62 Juan Valdez Flagship Café, New York, New York / Hariri & Hariri – Architecture
68 Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota / Herzog & de Meuron
76 Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, California / Hodgetts + Fung Design Associates
84 Lake Whitney Water Treatment Plant, Hamden, Connecticut / Steven Holl Architects
92 South Mountain Community College Performing Arts Center, Phoenix, Arizona / Jones Studio, Inc.
102 Caltrans District 7 Headquarters, Los Angeles, California / Morphosis
112 Seattle Public Library, Seattle, Washington / OMA| LMN: A Joint Venture
124 Delta Shelter, Mazama, Washington / Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects
128 GKD-USA, Inc. Headquarters Building, Cambridge, Maryland / Dominique Perrault Architecture
138 The Solar Umbrella, Venice, California / Pugh + Scarpa Architecture
144 School of Architecture, Prairieview A & M University, Prairieview, Texas / RoTo Architects, Inc.

154 Shaw Center for the Arts, Baton Rouge, Louisiana / Schwartz/Silver Architects
162 Camera Obscura, Greenport, New York / SHoP Architects PC
170 Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theater, Rock Valley College, Rockville, Illinois / Studio Gang Architects
178 Holy Rosary Catholic Church Complex, St. Amant, Louisiana / Trahan Architects
188 University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, Chicago, Illinois / Rafael Viñoly Architects
198 Museum of the Earth, Ithaca, New York / Weiss/Manfredi Architects

206 Acknowledgments
207 Illustration Credits

Preface

Popular interest in architecture and the celebrity of Whenever American architects gather in numbers,
architects has intensified in this media saturated age, there are ritual lamentations about architecture’s loss of
but serious publications devoted to architecture are dis- respect, power, and influence, for which it is fair to say
appearing, while the quality of many that remain has architects themselves have been largely responsible. The
declined. At a time when new knowledge and innovation last fifty years have witnessed a systematic retreat at all
are more important than ever, architects have fewer levels of the profession as vast areas of the built land-
opportunities for intellectual exploration. Details in scape became architect-free zones, new materials, tech-
Contemporary Architecture is the first issue of AsBuilt, a nologies, building types, and profound social change
new series from Princeton Architectural Press dedicated went unacknowledged, and market share was lost to can-
to formal and material innovation in architecture and the nier, more pragmatic players. To lessen legal exposure,
application of new technologies and materials. AsBuilt architects became cautious and risk-averse, demoting
will present original solutions to problems of architec- themselves from supervisors to observers on the job site.
tural detailing that demonstrate how complicated design Some prominent architects assumed responsibility for
problems have been handled by prominent architects, as the preliminary design of their projects only, staying on
well as those beginning their careers, to achieve beauti- as project consultants but leaving the onerous, exacting,
ful, functional, and, where necessary, economical results. labor-intensive disciplines of construction documents,
AsBuilt is dedicated to the proposition that architects contract administration, and project delivery to others.
learn best from other architects. Regularly calling atten- As they became more preoccupied with architecture’s
tion to the details that go into works of contemporary scenographic qualities and responsive to noisy popular
architecture that are outstanding examples of art and media, architects learned to market their work based on
technology will contribute to the creation of better build- its value as image or entertainment, even as the overall
ings and strengthen the understanding and influence of quality of American buildings declined. Many abandoned
architecture in society at large. the mundane purposefulness of everyday life altogether
for the postmodern theory swamps, or virtual worlds
In each issue of AsBuilt, twenty-five projects will be where passion for architecture can be severed from
selected from current architecture (in the United States reality. On many dysfunctional building teams, architects
and Canada), covering the whole range of building types, focus mainly on design while engineers, consultants, and
including works by architects from abroad collaborating contractors have little interest in it, if any.
with North American architectural and consultant teams.
Since the Renaissance, when emphasis on the develop- Architecture is complex and difficult, as much a state
ment of techniques for drawing propelled a shift away of mind as an assembly of parts, but it is mainly about
from construction toward representation and symbolic materials and the way they are put together. Images with
abstraction, critical theory has perpetuated a separation the illusion of great accuracy and completeness can be
of building from architecture. The purpose of AsBuilt is generated almost as soon as they are imagined, but
to provide a continuing investigation into built architec- architecture is developed slowly, laboriously, through a
ture and the process of its realization, what they are now continuing process of working back and forth from con-
and what they are becoming; its larger objective is to cept to detail, with increasing specificity and precision.
revive the concept of building as the principal intellectual For architects committed to innovation, design is an
activity of architecture, to finally collapse the divide extended process that demands close collaboration with
between theory and practice. engineers, consultants, contractors, subcontractors, and

6 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

fabricators at every phase of a building project from buildings but also to digitally fabricate building
inception to completion. The inevitable tension between components. By directly engaging the building process,
concept and realization often generates fractious architects can offer faster construction times, higher
relationships among professionals with very different quality, and a control of the fabrication process to pre-
roles to play in putting a building together. Even when serve the integrity of their concepts not possible with
architectural intent survives the process intact, an archi- the traditional methods. Like many architects who have
tect is likely to reach completion feeling that he or she started practices in the last ten years, SHoP PC incorpo-
has borne a chalice safely through a throng of foes. rates a workshop as an integral element of their design
practice, allowing them to do fullscale modeling and
American building culture—traditionally risk averse, prototyping, another step toward redefining the way
conservative, and confrontational—has lately shown architecture is practiced.
signs of greater openness to material innovation and
more collaborative relationships. As it has everywhere In response to the increased interest in fabrication
else, the digital revolution has forever changed American techniques and rising demand from architects, many
architectural design, practice, construction technology, American craftsmen and a growing number of small
buildings, and drawings. Whereas in the past architects companies are now cultivating specialties or reviving
translated an imagined three-dimensional conception of techniques of craftsmanship on the verge of extinction.
a building into two-dimensional drawings, they now The expanded metal mesh manufactured by Spantek
create a computer model of the concept and generate Expanded Metal, a homely component of the basic
the two-dimensional documents required to build it. American industrial shed traditionally used for vent cov-
Building information modeling (BIM)—based on the ers and stair treads, was seen with fresh eyes by Swiss
creation of intelligent three-dimensional models—and architects Herzog & de Meuron, and fabricated by archi-
related information-sharing technology seem capable tectural sheet metal contractor M. G. McGrath into three-
of realizing the earliest hopes for the role of computers dimensional box-like forms for the shimmering facade
in the making of architecture: a means of communi- of the Walker Art Center. Studio Gang Architects worked
cating and preserving architectural intent. with Uni-Systems, a Minneapolis-based firm specializing
in moving structures, to create a kinetic, faceted roof
While many architects first turned to computers to for the Starlight Theatre, consisting of triangular stain-
realize new forms, they now recognize that by expanding less steel-clad panels supported by steel columns and
their knowledge base and taking on additional risk, they trusses; when the roof opens, six movable panels rise
can begin to regain control of the building process. As in succession to form a six-pointed star revealing the sky.
new technologies allow them to design in an ever more The business and reputation of A. Zahner of Kansas City,
fluid fashion and to create forms not possible with less which had previously focused on more mundane metal
powerful tools, architects are also beginning to under- work such as siding, decking, and heating ducts, has
stand that they can minimize their own risk by becoming grown partly because it is the company that Frank Gehry
more familiar with the work of those who engineer and usually depends on to determine how to color metal and
construct their buildings, and they are actively upgrading make it bend to his challenging designs. A. Zahner fabri-
their skills. cated the insulated stainless steel panels for the exterior
of Steven Holl’s Lake Whitney Water Purification Facility
Leading architecture firms such as Gehry Partners for the Connecticut Water Authority.
and Morphosis have used sophisticated modeling
tools for years, not only to design and document their

7 Preface

Americans are, as George Santayana once observed, practice, the process of securing approval for such a bold
idealists working on matter; imaginative, but the imagi- proposal would probably have been much more difficult.
nation is practical, and the future it forecasts is imme-
diate. In this first issue of AsBuilt, there is evidence of The shortcomings of American building practices
a peculiarly American mix of an idealistic materialism, have recently been the focus of unflattering comparisons
or a materialistic idealism: Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen with those of Europe and Japan, but there isn’t another
Architects’s contemporary riff on basic machine-age country on earth that has so many foreign architects
components, steel shutters that open and close simul- working on commissions of every size. As a result,
taneously using a series of devices including a hand America is getting better architecture, greater access to
wheel, drive shafts, u-joints, spur gears, and cables; more sophisticated technology and materials, and build-
Pugh + Scarpa’s thin film technology solar panels, ing construction is held to an increasingly higher stan-
usually relegated to an inconspicuous and utilitarian dard. Whenever foreign architects build in America,
role, which become the defining formal element on the different building traditions come together to produce a
main facade; RoTo Architects curvilinear brick layouts, working process that is a hybrid, often created on the fly.
creating undulating surfaces to make the walls at Prairie Most of these projects are high-profile, high-budget
View come alive; or the exquisite concrete work at the commissions involving intensive research, innovations in
Holy Rosary Catholic Church, material expression physical technology, novel structural solutions, the
elevated to a poetic and symbolic level. introduction of new materials, or all of these, as with
the Seattle Public Library, a joint venture between the
As increasing numbers of prominent clients look Office for Metropolitan Architecture based in Rotterdam
abroad for celebrated architects, teams of consultants and local firm LMN Architects. The structural, mechan-
and construction professionals—headed by local archi- ical, electrical, and plumbing engineering services were
tecture firms with appropriate experience—are assem- provided by Arup Engineering, a global firm of designers,
bled to realize their concepts using often unfamiliar engineers, and planners and the creative force behind
American materials, technology, and construction prac- several innovative projects in this book. When no locally
tices. Over a third of the projects included in this first available material served their purposes, Daly/Genik
issue of AsBuilt are by architecture firms who have main Architects began to research ethylene tetrafluoroethylene
offices in other countries, or principals who were born (ETFE) membranes, used extensively in Europe but which
and trained overseas and have come to America to had yet to be installed in the United States, for the
practice; many others have spent some time studying skylight system at the Art Center College of Design in
or working abroad. Foreign architects have to adapt their Pasadena. The introduction of ETFE technology into the
work to a building culture very different from their own, United States was eased because the Los Angeles office
as well as unfamiliar technology and materials, but the of Arup, with previous experience in ETFE systems in
reputations for excellence that got them hired usually Europe, collaborated on the design of the delicate steel
translate into greater design freedom than is typically frames for the forty- and fifty-foot long skylights.
afforded local practitioners. Alsop Architects had already
built a structure on giant legs in Britain when hired, in a For the skin of the Shaw Center for the Arts in Baton
joint venture with Toronto-based Robbie/Young + Wright Rouge, Schwartz/Silver Architects designed a wall system
Architects, to design an addition for the Ontario College that used LINIT channel glass, a translucent linear struc-
of Art and Design. For a United States or Canadian-based tural glazing system with a depth and profile not found
in conventional glass wall applications, distributed by

8 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

Bendheim Wall Systems, manufactured in Germany by project materials that reveal something of what actually
Lamberts and used throughout Europe for decades. lies behind the physical making of architecture: its
LINIT eliminates the need for most vertical and interme- structure, material, and form; the much misapplied
diate horizontal aluminum members. At the time it was image of minimal construction; buildings which seem
completed, the Shaw Center was said to be the largest to consist of skin alone; or those that aspire to have no
building in the United States to be completely clad in details. It is our intention that AsBuilt will contribute to
U-shaped cast glass, and the first to use the channel a continuing conversation about architecture-as-building
glass as the rainscreen for a wall system. GKD Gebrüder and the process of its realization emphasizing the
Kufferath, a German manufacturer of metal fabrics for rationale and development of architectural detail and
architectural applications, hired Dominique Perrault the significance of drawings, however generated, for the
Architecture, who has used their products extensively on act of creation. Except for press releases, most architects
various European projects, to design the new GKD-USA are not accustomed to writing about their projects, or
headquarters in suburban Maryland as a showcase for documenting them for publication beyond basic general
the products now manufactured there. GKD architectural arrangement drawings: plans, sections, and elevations.
metals are now readily available to the American market, It is the purpose of AsBuilt to offer practicing architects
where they are already in high demand. Hariri & Hariri— an opportunity to review how others draw and present
Architecture used a GKD woven stainless steel mesh for their work. Because it is a series, the focus is on the long
their building-sized screen on the Juan Valdez Flagship term and it is our hope that the presence of a venue
with an abstracted image of Juan Valdez sandblasted for technical, formal, and material exploration will stim-
on it. Renowned glass manufacturer Cricursa of ulate more architects to document their design and
Barcelona manufactured forty-three panels of insulating construction processes for publication. The twenty-five
laminated glass for Archi-tectonics’s Greenwich Street projects included in this first issue add a dimension
Project, which curtain-wall fabricators UAD Group mod- to the way American architecture and architects are
eled and engineered using CATIA to precisely determine perceived by the general public and present solid
the geometries of each glass panel and its relationship evidence that the most recent renewal of architecture
to the underlying substructure. At the Figge Museum of in America is well underway.
Art, David Chipperfield Architects used a glass rainscreen
for a multistory, impermeable, double-skinned exterior Christine Killory
envelope incorporating passive ventilation in a 3-foot-
wide cavity between the outer wall and inner skin
structural wall where the thermal barrier is located—
a technology developed in Scandinavia in the 1940s
and used in Europe and Canada but unknown in the
United States until recently.

Formal innovation in architecture is driven by social
and technological change. In selecting material for
AsBuilt, we are particularly interested in architecture that
it would have been difficult—or impossible—to conceive
and build without computers. Our aim is to include

9 Preface





Sharp Centre for Design, Toronto, Ontario
Alsop Architects Ltd. and Robbie/Young + Wright Architects Inc. in Joint Venture

Alsop Architects Ltd., London, United Kingdom

Robbie/Young + Wright Architects Inc., Toronto

The spectacular 80,000-square-foot addition The tabletop is supported by a conven- legs are the same size, seven are multi-
to the extension of the Ontario College of Art tional concrete stair and elevator core as colored and five are finished in black to
and Design (OCAD) is a flying rectangle, or well as six pairs of tapering steel column make them appear thinner, an even more
tabletop, on twelve steel columns housing legs, which touch the ground in an appar- persuasive optical illusion at night when the
art studios, lecture theaters, exhibit spaces, ently random fashion. The core sits on black legs become less visible and seem
and faculty offices. The underside of the twelve steel-reinforced caissons, 5 feet in to disappear; the architects wanted the
two-story volume is raised eight stories off diameter, extending 40 to 60 feet into building to have a completely different
the ground, unifying the existing brick struc- the ground and an additional 5 feet into nighttime look. The bright red steel tube
tures underneath: Grange Park to the west the bedrock. The six pairs of legs sit on five that connects the new addition to the
and McCaul Street to the east. The rationale steel-reinforced caissons, each 8 feet in existing brick college building is used as an
for raising the building 85 feet off the diameter. Also extending into the bedrock, emergency exit. As a cost-saving measure,
ground was to preserve views of Grange Park the 100-foot-long hollow legs, originally what was intended to be a multicolored
for OCAD’s neighbors across McCaul Street. fabricated for use as segments of a natural translucent cladding is instead a corrugated
The void beneath the building also provides gas pipeline, are made of steel approxi- aluminum skin painted in black and white
outdoor expansion space for the college’s mately 1 inch thick. Like all exposed steel in to resemble pixilation, a visual effect
activities, a landscaped area that is an exten- the Sharp Centre, the legs are covered with intended to blur the scale of the building
sion of Grange Park. Because the Sharp many coats of intumescent paint, a fire- and affect the way it is perceived.
Centre is situated above the older main proofing material that swells when exposed
campus building, OCAD created an outdoor to intense heat, increasing in volume and
park space, connecting Grange Park to the decreasing in density, to provide a protective
McCaul Street neighborhood. cushion around each leg. Although all the

This page
Level 5 plan

Opposite
Top: McCaul Street view south
Bottom: West elevation from
Grange Park

12 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture



This page
Top: Tabletop cross section
east-west
Bottom: Last legs installation
Opposite
Top: Typical Classroom (left),
tabletop section detail
Bottom: View from McCaul Street
looking north

14 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

15 Sharp Centre for Design

This page
Top: Tabletop, longitudinal section,
north to south looking west
Bottom (left to right): Lower keg
connection, upper leg connection,
tabletop framing view south
Opposite
Top right: Lobby
Bottom: Tabletop section detail

16 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

17 Sharp Centre for Design

Greenwich Street Project, New York, New York
Archi-tectonics, New York

Architect of Record: David Hotson Architect, New York

The Greenwich Street Project includes the glass comprised of two 1/4-inch-thick degrees, 8, 14.99, 23, and the typical 90;
renovation of a six-story warehouse with a sheets of glass bonded together using a and cambered floor edges. The layered
four-story penthouse added to the top, and layer of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) film. The facade consists of aluminum fins covering
the creation of a new eleven-story building, angled west-facing wall of glass has a low- the joints between the glass panels and
resulting in a total of twenty-three residential E filter, a thin layer of metallic oxide applied thermal breaks between them, the bent
units as well as a commercial space on the to the third surface of the insulating glass glass panels and freestanding steel columns
ground floor. The west-facing main facade is to block radiant heat transfer and ultra-violet spaced 7 feet apart. The horizontal glass
a complex three-dimensional wall of trans- radiation. To create the folds in the glass, panels, all less than 3 feet wide, are sup-
parent blue-green glass that cascades down the manufacturer bent flat sheets of glass ported by steel S4 I-beams on either side of
the entire facade. The city building code over molds, varying the temperature the building and bolted to the vertical steel
allowed for a straight rise to a height of 85 at which different areas of the glass were lattice. Stainless steel rods are used as
feet and a building envelope setback of 1 heated. cross-bracing tensile members, reducing the
foot from the street for every additional 2 thickness and visual impact of the steel col-
feet-eight inches of height over 85 feet. Curtain-wall manufacturer UAD Group umns. Awning windows hinged at the top in
Asymmetrical waves of glass move diago- and New York–based consultant Israel the glass wall satisfy a code-related ventila-
nally across the facade following the sloping Berger & Associates modeled and engi- tion requirement for residential buildings.
profile of the setback angle. neered the complex curtain wall using CATIA To prevent sound from traveling from loft to
to determine with precision the geometries loft through the multistoried crystalline skin,
The complex geometries of the glass of each glass panel and its relationship to insulated aluminum panels fill the space
wall provided an engineering and fabrication the underlying substructure. Three principal between the floor slabs and the curtain wall.
challenge. Cricursa of Barcelona manufac- groups of components were used to con- To further reduce sound migration between
tured forty-three panels of insulating lami- struct the curtain wall: sloping glass bend lofts, drywall on party walls is extended to
nated glass consisting of a 1/4-inch-thick lines, three on the fourth, fifth, and sixth overlap the curtain wall mullions.
layer of tempered blue-green glass, a 1/2- floors, and one on the ninth floor; inclined
inch air gap, and one layer of laminated horizontal extrusions at four different

This page
Facade model

Opposite
Curtain wall detail

18 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

19 Project Name

This page
Top: Curtain wall components
Bottom (left to right): Curtain wall
roof framing, curtain wall framing
detail, gallery entrance
Opposite
Facade axonometric

20 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

WORKPOINT #18 0° WORKPOINT #19
EL +138'-3 1/2" 0° EL +138'-3 1/2"
-29'-8" FROM GRIDLINE 1 -29'-8" FROM GRIDLINE 1
WORKPOINT #16 0°
EL +133'-9" 0° TOP OF PENTHOUSE
-29'-8" FROM GRIDLINE 1 SKYLIGHT
14.99° +138'-3 1/2"
WORKPOINT #14 0°
EL +109'-3" MAINROOF- L.P.
-23'-1 1/4" FROM GRIDLINE 1 + 133'-0 3/4"

WORKPOINT #20 WORKPOINT #17
EL +112'-6 1/8" @ CL. OF MULLION EL +133'-9"
-16'-1 1/8" FROM GRIDLINE 1 -29'-8" FROM GRIDLINE 1

WORKPOINT #12 0° 11TH FLOOR
EL +95'-2 1/2" 0° + 121'-3"
-16'-1 1/8" FROM GRIDLINE 1
0° WORKPOINT #15
WORKPOINT #10 0° EL +109'-3"
EL +85'-3" -23'-1 1/4" FROM GRIDLINE 1
-13'-5 1/8" FROM GRIDLINE 1 14.99°
WORKPOINT #22 -0.63° 10TH FLOOR
EL + 88'-6 1/8" @ CL. OF MULLION + 109'-3"
-6'-0" FROM GRIDLINE 1 0°
0° WORKPOINT #21
WORKPOINT #8 EL +112'-6 1/8" @ CL. OF MULLION
EL + 73'-3" 0° -16'-1 1/8" FROM GRIDLINE 1
-6'-0" FROM GRIDLINE 1 0°
WORKPOINT #13
WORKPOINT #6 23.72° 6TH FLOOR EL +99'-0 1/4"
EL + 57'-3 7/8" 0° + 61'-3" -16'-1 1/8" FROM GRIDLINE 1
+1'-0" FROM GRIDLINE 1
WORKPOINT #4 4.10° WORKPOINT #7 9TH FLOOR
EL + 50'-6 3/4" -8.41° EL +62'-9 1/8" + 97'-3"
0'-0" FROM GRIDLINE 1 28.23° -1'-4 5/8" FROM GRIDLINE 1
WORKPOINT #11
WORKPOINT #2 3.45° 5TH FLOOR EL +85'-3"
EL + 16'-5" + 49'-5" -12'-4 7/8" FROM GRIDLINE 1
0'-0" FROM GRIDLINE 1 0°
0° WORKPOINT #5 8TH FLOOR
1 EL +51'-3 5/8" + 85'-3"
0° -3'-1" FROM GRIDLINE 1
0° WORKPOINT #23
4TH FLOOR EL +88'-6 1/8" @ CL. OF MULLION
+ 38'-5" -6'-0" FROM GRIDLINE 1

WORKPOINT #3 WORKPOINT #9
EL +45'-6 3/4" EL +73'-3"
0'-0" FROM GRIDLINE 1 -6'-0" FROM GRIDLINE 1

3RD FLOOR 7TH FLOOR
+ 27'-5" + 73'-3"

2ND FLOOR
+ 16'-5"

WORKPOINT #1
EL +16'-5"
0'-0" FROM GRIDLINE 1

1ST FLOOR
+ 3'-4"

21 Greenwich Street Project

This page
Facade details
Opposite
Bent panel axonometric view, Bent
mullion assembly (left),
horizontal mullions (middle
and right)
Bottom: Penthouse view west

22 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

23 Greenwich Street Project

24 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

Opposite
Top: Bent panel sections (left and
middle), section detail panel
joint and detail through window
top frame (right)
Middle: Detail section at
horizontal mullion
Bottom: Jamb connection plan
detail (left), corner plan detail

This page
Greenwich Street entrance
with glass canopy

25 Greenwich Street Project

Maximilian’s Schell, Los Angeles, California
Ball Nogues Design, Los Angeles

Maximilian’s Schell, an outdoor installation product through a unified manufacturing and proportion as they approached the
of tinted Mylar simulating a celestial black strategy. The designers achieved their center. An integration of structure and skin,
hole by designers Benjamin Ball and Gaston aesthetic effects by manipulating Mylar— the vortex behaved as a minimal surface:
Nogues, functioned as a temporary shade internally reinforced with bundled nylon prestressed, always in tension, yet math-
structure and outdoor room during the sum- and Aramid (a manufactured high-strength, ematically definable. Its origin lay in the
mer and fall of 2005. The interior of this high-modulus fiber, known commercially soap-film surfaces modeled by Otto in the
experimental installation created an outdoor as Kevlar) with a sophisticated computer 1950s and 1960s, a process now typically
room for enhanced social interaction in the numerically controlled (CNC) cutting accomplished using software that performs
Materials & Applications courtyard on Silver machine. Simultaneously reflective and finite element calculations. After receiving
Lake Boulevard. During the day as the sun transparent, the amber-colored film hand sketches and computer models made
passed overhead, the canopy cast colored achieved UV-resistance from the application by the designers, a structural engineer
fractal light patterns onto the ground. When of a laminated golden metallic finish. digitally created and refined the minimal
standing in the center of the piece and gaz- surface model, quickly and precisely manip-
ing upward, the visitor saw only sky. In the The result was neither a tent-type mem- ulating it during the form-finding process,
evening when viewed from the exterior, the brane nor a cable net structure in the man- while taking account of the distorting effects
vortex warmly glowed, partially obscuring ner of Frei Otto, but a unique tensile matrix of gravity and enabling the finished vortex-
the building behind it. comprised of 504 different iterations of shaped canopy to be in tension across its
a parametric component, or petal, each cut top surface. This gave the final form its
The project required more than a year of and labeled using the CNC system. Every purity and smooth appearance when viewed
development and involved several proto- petal connected to its neighbors at three from the exterior. Seen from the interior, the
types, although actual fabrication took only points using clear polycarbonate rivets to piece resembled an enormous transparent
two weeks. The result was an installation form the overall shape of a vortex. As though flower with its petals lightly draping and
that functioned not only as architecture and warped by the gravitational force of a black curling downward.
sculpture but also as a “made-to-order” hole, the petals continually changed scale

2 1/2" 2'-10" (E)

50'-7 1/2"

19'-8 1/2" (E) 22'-5" (E)
26'-3 1/2" (E) ±
9'-0" approx

22.80°67.20°3 1/2" 3'-10 1/2" (E) 2'-8 1/2" (E)
5'-7 1/2"
7'-3 1/8" 90.00°

6'-10 1/2" 6'-7" (E) 3'-10 1/2"± This page
Section
1'-4" (E)
Opposite
7" Interior with canopy

3'-0" 2'-6"

5'-6" 41'-0"

1 Longitudinal Section

26 ScaAles: B1/4u" =il1t'-0/" Details in Contemporary Architecture



This page
Top: Section detail
Bottom: Cross section

Opposite
Silver Lake Boulevard elevation

28 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

29 Maximilian’s Schell

Genzyme Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner Inc., Stuttgart, Germany; Los Angeles, CA

The Genzyme Center is located on a brown- rior is a ventilated double facade with a 4- nected to the building management system.
fields site originally part of the massive foot interstitial space for circulation that acts Workspace layout and extensive use of glass
wetlands near the harbor in East Cambridge, as a buffer zone by blocking the solar gain in on both interior and exterior walls permit
which was polluted after various maritime summer and ventilating the heat away while views to the outside from all of the regularly
and industrial uses and abandoned in the introducing captured heat gains into the occupied spaces.
1970s. The Genzyme Center itself is the structure in winter, reducing thermal loss
largest of the seven new buildings in the from the facade. The elaborate natural light enhancement
mixed-use, high density development, their system utilizes a series of roof-mounted
forms and envelopes largely predetermined The atrium void acts as a huge ventila- heliostats (solar mirrors) on the north side
by the site’s master plan. Despite these tion and light shaft as fresh air is introduced of the building, which track the movement of
constraints on the design process, Behnisch, to the occupied spaces by ceiling grills the sun and reflect sunlight across the sky-
Behnisch & Partner sought to create a through the floor plates or operable facade light to fixed mirrors on the south side. The
landmark building that would exemplify the openings; eased by pressure differentials, fixed mirrors further reflect the light to a
leading biotechnology company’s spirit of it then moves into the atrium, up and out series of prismatic louvers located at the top
innovation. The main goal of the design was through the heat recovery exhaust in the of the atrium. The louvers also move with
to develop a building from the inside out, skylight. The central heating and cooling the sun’s path and elevation and reflect glar-
from the individual work environment—offic- systems for the building also use exhausted ing direct sunlight back to the mirrors, allow-
es, meeting rooms, and team areas—to the steam from an adjacent power plant, which ing diffuse light to enter the atrium. Once
overall structure of the building and the site. drives absorption chillers for summer cool- inside the atrium, the light is further reflect-
The environmental design features of the ing and is exchanged directly into heat in ed throughout the lower floors by a system
Genzyme Center encompass all parts of the winter. This local energy cycle has no distri- of hanging prismatic mobiles, reflective pan-
building: the envelope, the full-height atri- bution losses, uses one of the most efficient els, and a reflective light wall. On the outside
um, the central mechanical plant, the office cooling methods, has economies of scale glass walls, horizontal motorized blinds
lighting systems, and the site and storm from the power plant, and has emission reflect light up to reflective ceiling panels
water discharge systems. The building is filters to remove particulate matter. (the first two in the ceiling grid), which in
organized around an interior oasis: an Automated light and occupant sensors turn reflect the light through inner glass
atrium flooded with daylight that branches detect conditions within the building’s habit- walls deep within the floor plate. The lighting
out from the center to the facade. The layout able areas and dim or eliminate artificial system reduces energy use by about forty-
offers a variety of different spatial situations illumination as needed, resulting in signifi- five percent. There are two solar panel arrays
and links the various areas of the building cant energy savings. The high degree of on the roof of the mechanical penthouses,
vertically and horizontally. automation built into the environmental energy efficient features which, along with
controls combined with the adjustment fans, motors, and an extensive building
The building envelope includes a high options available to the occupants creates management system, significantly reduce
performance curtain-wall glazing system an appealing, customizable, and energy- the overall energy costs of the building.
with operable windows throughout all twelve efficient work environment. There are oper- The light enhancement system provides suf-
stories linked to the building management able windows and lighting controls for ficient natural light for at least seventy-five
system, allowing for automated control and perimeter workspaces, as well as permanent percent of the workspaces where critical
night cooling. Thirty-two percent of the exte- temperature and humidity monitors con- tasks are performed.

Opposite
Atrium and chandelier

30 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

31 Project Name

This page
Top: Upper section
Bottom: Section, atrium
Opposite
Top: Atrium ceiling
Bottom: Ceiling detail

32 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

33 Genzyme Center

34 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

Opposite
Top: Atrium roof section
Bottom: Atrium roof exterior
This page
Top: Prismatic skylight plan
Middle: Prismatic skylight section
Bottom (left to right): Lightwall,
chandelier detail, atrium looking up

35 Genzyme Center

Figge Museum of Art, Davenport, Iowa
David Chipperfield Architects, London, United Kingdom

Architect of Record: Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck Architecture, Des Moines, Iowa

The new Figge Art Museum was sited on pressure within the wall cavity is lower than framed glazed units, measuring 4 by 10 feet.
the west bank of the Mississippi as the cata- the external pressure, water vapor is actually Openings at the base and horizontal joints
lyst in a program to reinvigorate the center drawn in through permeable wall materials located at every 4-foot interval of wall height
of Davenport and reestablish its historic and voids that occur wherever the vapor increase air flow and drainage within the
connection to the river. David Chipperfield barrier is interrupted by windows, outlets, cavity. Veneer joints, covered by bug screens
Architects intended the design of the new and other interfaces. Since the temperature in the outer wall, are left open to allow air to
museum to simply but powerfully landmark within a building differs from that outside, circulate within the wall cavity, keeping the
Davenport’s redeveloped waterfront. The gradients occur across the wall between the insulation dry by allowing moisture to evap-
building consists of a black base of integrally two zones. Adequate wall cavity airflow and orate. Mechanical shades located in this
colored concrete supporting a monolithic drainage are not provided and the interior of cavity in front of any windows further reduce
block enveloped by opaque, transparent, the wall is inaccessible. solar gain within the building. The cavity also
and translucent glass; its simple form serves to moderate the effects of tempera-
derived from the vernacular of local barns Because moisture occurs naturally within ture and humidity differentials between the
and agricultural sheds. wall cavities, rainscreen technology provides interior and exterior of the building.
a continuous thermal barrier integrated with
The museum is clad in a glass rain- the window system; airflow allows for evapo- The glass surfaces are fritted with
screen, a multistory, impermeable, double- ration of moisture and separate panels pro- horizontal banding that varies in density to
skinned exterior envelope, incorporating vide easy access if needed. Each panel of define each of the museum’s formal ele-
passive ventilation in a 3-foot-wide cavity the rainscreen wall can be replaced individu- ments and help to reduce solar heat gain.
between the outer wall and the inner struc- ally without compromising adjacent portions There are two frit patterns on the inner and
tural wall where the thermal barrier is of the exterior wall assembly. Wall cavities outer skins allowing varying levels of light
located. This buffer zone helps to moderate remain dry, insulated, and corrosion free. transmission: 1/2 inch of clear spacing with
the disparities between the climate condi- Because the outermost building layer no either 14/16 inch or 1/2 inch of opaque
tions inside and outside the building caused longer provides the thermal barrier, window frit strips. The patterns occasionally overlap
by the extreme temperatures of the local and wall veneers require no caulking or seal- to produce a moiré effect, created by two
climate. Rainscreen technology results in ants, corrosion within the wall is eliminated, superimposed layers of repetitive semitrans-
a wall envelope that is both energy efficient the effect of insulation is optimized, its R- parent patterns. Although the museum has
and easy to maintain. In traditional con- value is enhanced, and dependence on heat- a transparent appearance, the glass is used
struction, the vapor barrier is interrupted ing and cooling systems is reduced. mainly as a cladding material over a build-
at floor and window lines and at any wall ing with relatively few windows. Depending
penetration. When there is a humidity imbal- The inner skin of the museum consists of on the light conditions, the museum vari-
ance between inside and outside, the water insulated stud-wall construction covered by ously appears to be opaque gray, filmy
vapor from high concentration areas perforated galvanized steel sheets and dou- white, reflective blue, or translucent green.
migrates to low concentration areas. If the ble-glazed windows. The rain screen’s outer
skin is composed of horizontal aluminum-

Opposite
Top: Mississippi riverfront elevation
Bottom: Southwest corner, River
Drive and Harrison Street

36 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture



38 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

Opposite
Left: Rainscreen wall section
Top: Exterior view
Bottom: Rainscreen wall cavity

This page
Top: Rainscreen curtain wall
Bottom: Rainscreen wall
cavity looking up (left), rainscreen
and conventional walls

veneer WALL vapor ROOM
veneer CAVITY barrier INTERIOR
veneer WALL vapor
window CAVITY barrier ROOM
window permeable INTERIOR
window WALL mmpeeebrvmmmaarpbberiorraeaarbrnnleee
CAVITY ROOM
veneer permeable IsNtTruEcRtuIrOaRl
veneer membrane
veneer wall/
window isntsruuclatutiroanl
window
window wall/
insulation
structural

wall/
insulation

CONVENTIONAL WALL
CONVENTIONAL WALL

CONVENTIONAL WALL

WALL structural ROOM
CAVITY wall INTERIOR
WALL
CAVITY structural ROOM
wall INTERIOR
WALL air
CAVITY ROOM
insulatio innsulaitinosnulation bbstaararruwrirrciiaeetulrrl ral INTERIOR

air
barrier

39 Figge Museum of Art RAINSCREEN WALL
RAINSCREEN WALL

RAINSCREEN WALL

Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California
Daly Genik Architects, Santa Monica, California

As the first building of its new south campus distribute their weight evenly over the roof
extension, the Art Center College of Design surface could weigh no more than the
(ACCD) has taken over a large 100,000- removed concrete decking, minimizing any
square-foot concrete structure in downtown additional load on the building’s structure.
Pasadena, formerly a supersonic wind tun- Natural light for the studios was a critical
nel used by a consortium of aircraft comp- consideration, but comparative analysis of
anies to evaluate their planes throughout the various skylight solutions revealed that the
mid- and late-twentieth century. As a result amount of light admitted by the skylights
of its former use, the complex had large, was directly proportional to the weight of the
dark, irregularly shaped spaces with few framing required to support them. Daly
windows; the design challenge for its reuse Genik Architects began to research ethylene
by the ACCD was the creation of openings tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) membranes—
in the existing concrete shell that would used extensively in Europe, but yet to be
allow light to penetrate the deepest recesses installed in the United States—ultimately
of the building. Through the installation of choosing Foiltec NA as the primary contrac-
three large skylights in the roof—a sequence tor for the skylight system. The Los Angeles
of interconnected light wells clad in layered office of Arup Engineering, with previous
lightweight plastic—and a series of cuts experience of ETFE systems in Europe,
made in the exterior walls along the street, collaborated on the design of the delicate
Daly Genik Architects transformed the steel frames for the 40- and 50-foot long
300-foot-long structure into a light-filled skylights.
space suitable for galleries and arts instruc-
tion. The skylights have an emblematic The Foiltec cladding system consists of
significance for the renovated building: a number of layers of the UV stable copoly-
because ACCD also has a night school, it is mer ETFE welded into pillows or foils,
as important for them to glow at night as restrained around their perimeters by alumi-
to light the studios during the day. num extrusions fastened to steel frames,
and inflated with low-pressure air, providing
The roof structure of the existing building insulation and resistance to wind loads.
is relatively fragile, consisting of concrete Because ETFE is an inflated system, it can
beams and purlins with a concrete deck. only transmit tensile loads to the frame,
To lighten the load that would be concen- and the higher the air pressure within the
trated on the roof, Daly Genik Architects system, the higher the wind load and the
agreed to cut away only the deck layer, greater the stress exerted by the system on
leaving the beam structure intact. The new the frame. Foiltec acts as a natural light
skylights and the cast concrete curbs which control system, expanding and contracting

Opposite
Roof terrace

40 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture



This page
First floor plan

Opposite
Top: Cross section
Bottom: Aerial view South
Raymond Avenue

to admit or block light as needed, which pattern controls the amount of light that cut rubber rollers. The cost of the rollers
helps to reduce the heating and cooling is admitted. Movement of the second or was significant, but the larger investment
loads within the building. The reinflation middle layer closer to the top or bottom of was in optimizing the pattern so that correct
process can be controlled by a timer, a the system can alter its transparency. When amounts of light would be transmitted in
seasonal clock, or light and thermal sensors. the air is pushed in between the layers, the open or closed configurations. The archi-
they expand to look like pillows, allowing the tects originally specified criteria of forty
A Foiltec cushion consists of at least two maximum amount of light into the space; percent open and ninety percent obscured.
layers but more can be added into the sys- when the air is drawn out, the pillows flatten The Mau office produced a number of
tem to enhance the cladding’s insulation to bring the two surfaces of patterned Foiltec variations for the client’s approval, and
properties. The range of transparency of the closer together, effectively blocking the light. Foiltec evaluated the patterns for light trans-
system is project-specific and determined mission. Because reflections develop as light
by design intentions and desired building Daly Genik Architects intended the sky- moves between the open layers, numerous
performance. Each foil can be designed to light installation to achieve an integration iterations were required before the final
affect the appearance and performance of design disciplines: structural engineering, design configuration was established.
of the roof, its visual transparency, and the architectural form, and graphic design. In Throughout the course of the day, the Foiltec
levels of solar gain. One of the principal collaboration with graphic designer Bruce system responds like a respiratory system
innovations by Foiltec is a valve system that Mau, they developed an original pattern for to changing levels of light, heat, and activity
allows an additional surface to be included the three-layer Foiltec system, an integral within the building. At night the skylights
in the pillow assembly. This surface can be part of the system’s dynamic technology, glow with a soft light and are transformed
printed with a pattern that is offset from the which allows the skin to alter light transmis- into iconic lanterns.
pattern printed on the exterior; when these sion through visual transformation. Because
surfaces are in contact with each other, light ink will not adhere to its Teflon surface,
is excluded from the skylight. As the Foiltec the Foiltec had to be irradiated with a high
layers expand and contract, the applied frequency energy source and printed with

BC D EF

42 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

43 Art Center College of Design

44 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

Opposite
Top: Skylight A
Bottom: Skylight B
This page
Top: Skylight C
Bottom: Skylight typical
details

45 Art Center College of Design

This page
Top and bottom: Skylight frame
and curb details

Opposite
Top: Skylight frame detail
Bottom: Installation of skylight

46 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

47 Art Center College of Design

VALVE CLOSED VALVE OPEN VALVE OPEN
System inflates System stays inflated

VALVE OPEN VALVE OPEN VALVE CLOSED
System stays inflated Exhaust
+20 MIN
+0 MIN +10 MIN Admits Light
Rejects Light Transition

This page
Top: Foils open and closed
Bottom (left to right): Foils partially
open, open, closed

Opposite
Top: Skylight, night
Bottom: South Raymond Avenue
entrance

option 8a
coverage 43%

option 8c
coverage 86%

option 8b
coverage 43%

48 AsBuilt / Details in Contemporary Architecture

49 Art Center College of Design