Brought to you with support from

• Facade Manufacturer AGC Interpane Alucobond Ferguson Neudorf Glass
• Architect Elkus Manfredi Architects
• Facade Installer Ferguson Neudorf Glass Turner Construction (general contractor)
• Facade Consultant Heintges
• Location Boston
• Date of Completion 2019
• System Custom unitized curtain wall system
• Products AGC Interpane Ipasol Platin 52/36 Alucobond aluminum composite panels

Brought to you with support from

• Facade Manufacturer Ferguson Neudorf Glass / Nupress Group Dow Corning Interpane Shanghai North Glass PPG
• Architect Ennead Architects Bora Architects (architect-of-record)
• Facade Installer Ferguson Neudorf Glass
• Facade Consultant Thornton Tomasetti
• Location Eugene, OR
• Date of Completion Fall 2020
• System Custom unitized aluminum and glass curtain wall with a custom patch supported laminated glass rain screen
• Products Interpane Ipasol Ultraselect 62/29 on low-iron monolithic glass substrate with varying frit densities

Brought to you with support from

• Facade Manufacturer Boston Valley Terracotta Tvitec Spain Guardian Permasteelisa
• Architect Kohn Pedersen Fox
• Facade Installer Permasteelisa AECOM Tishman
• Facade Consultant Vidaris
• Structural Engineer Severud Associates
• Location New York
• Date of Completion 2020
• System Custom unitized curtainwall system
• Products Custom BVTC extruded terra-cotta Tvitec glass Guardian SunGuard HP Neutral 50/32

Excavation of the site began in 2016 to make way for one of the city’s largest concrete pours, with the foundation requiring approximately 4,000 cubic yards of concrete. Since then, construction manager AECOM Tishman and facade installer and fabricator Permasteelisa have proceeded at a dizzying pace. According to David Mangini, Permasteelisa North America’s project office leader, the team typically installed four floors per month using a mini-crane projected from the floor slab above. The unitized panels were fabricated at Permasteelisa Group’s factories in Connecticut and Montreal and were shipped to the site by New Jersey-based superload logistics specialist Farren International. Buffalo-based manufacturer Boston Valley Terracotta (BVTC) produced the tower’s architectural terra-cotta and was involved in its modeling since the concept design phase. There are two custom glazes, resulting from half-a-decade of collaboration between BVTC and KPF, applied to the tower’s terra-cotta panels; a darker glaze for the larger soffit tiles and a light, high-gloss glaze used for the curtain wall spandrels. The bulk of the tiles were extruded—the clay was forced through a steel die to produce a hollow cored unit which is subsequently cut, dried, and fired. In total, there are over 2,400 soffit tiles, which measure 5'-0" x 2' - 6", and 26,000 spandrel tiles, which have a standard width of approximately 5 feet. Each diagonally-oriented flute is just over a foot in height, and are split by approximately two-inch seams. The tiles are held by a straightforward system of mullions and stack joints, however, special attention was paid to areas that incorporate natural-ventilation components. The canted glass panels run the same width as the spandrel tiles and were produced by Tvitec Spain and treated with Guardian SunGuard HP Neutral 50/32. Each IGU module is composed of a 3/8" outer lite, a 1/2" air space, and an inner lite of two 1/4" panes. The project is scheduled to wrap up in 2020.

 

Brought to you with support from

• Facade Manufacturer AGC Interpane Roschmann Macalloy Sadev Sika
• Architect Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners Hickok Cole Architects (Executive Architect)
• Facade Installer Custom Glass Services
• Facade Consultant Eckersley O'Callaghan
• Location Washington D.C.
• Date of Completion December 2019
• System Custom glass veil system
• Products AGC Interpane Ipasol Neutral 73/42 Macalloy stainless steel tensions rods

The location proved a challenge for the design and construction teams; the museum stands atop the L’Enfant Plaza metro station, a subterranean shopping mall, and, for good measure, a parking garage. To minimize operational disruption to the sites below, the design and structural teams opted to use lower impact hollow-bar micropiles for the foundation and established a schedule to allow multiple construction crews to operate simultaneously. Harking back to the design of Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano's 1977 Centre Pompidou, all of the structural elements and principal routes of circulation are fully presented at the primary west elevation. Sloped red steel fins rising from the collonade of pilotis that ring the structure and, quite literally, do the facade’s heavy lifting. Each rises to a height of 70 feet and were shipped from Virginia to the site in two pieces and assembled in-situ. “From these five points, the facade is suspended on a trapeze of bespoke steel fabrications, that collectively resolve the gravity loads and lateral forces, in addition to the potential differential drift,” said Hickok Cole senior associate Bryan Chun. “Along with RSHP, we engaged Eckersley O’Callaghan as the facade consultant from the onset of the design process, their expertise and acumen were essential to define the limits of each member, and we selected Roschmann Glass specifically for their ability to engineer in a design-assist capacity.” The panels for the fritted-glass veil are massive and measure 7'-6" by 18'-6" each, and stacked, the total height of the glass curtainwall is 60 feet. In lieu of mullions, the veils are held together with stitch plates that lend sufficient stability to allow the laminated glass to run less than an inch thick. While the primary elevation is the project’s showstopper, the curatorial spaces are equally impressive. Aided by 3D-modeling software used during the design process, each structural beam is outfitted as a conduit for the museum’s MEP and HVAC systems, a strategy that allowed for nearly undisrupted 22-foot floor-to-floor heights as well as clear 60-foot floor spans.

Brought to you with support from

• Facade Manufacturer Cricursa Octatube Van der Sanden Group
• Architect UN Studio Gietermans & Van Dijk Architecten (executive architect)
• Facade Installer Octatube Nederland Wessels Zeist
• Facade Engineer ARUP
• Structural Engineer Brouwer en Kok
• Location Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Date of Completion Decembr 2019
• System Custom glass-and-steel system
• Products Low-iron Cricursa glass Van der Sanden Group brick slips

Each bay is comprised of two primary features, low-iron glass boxes and brickwork. At the second story, the glass boxes protrude significantly from the facade before curving and overlapping the groundfloor’s glazing. The maneuver lends a flowing quality to the facade while maintaining full transparency of the lintel and brick-chevron frieze. Each of the glass panels is bonded with structural silicone, and their seams are obscured by narrow and polished stainless steel frames. On the ground floor, the concave underbelly of each curved panel transitions to a broad stainless steel strip that furthers material differentiation at street level. The windows were assembled off-site—no small feat considering that their average height is approximately 27 feet—and installed as prefabricated pieces. The renovation, which removed the first three stories of brick in favor of glazing, required the insertion of narrow columns of glass-fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) panels between the window bays. Following the installation of glazing, the GFRC components were covered in a rigid insulation layer. The new masonry is entirely comprised of hand-molded, reddish-brown brick slips produced by the Van der Sanden Group; the brick slips are glued to the insulation membrane and largely follow a Dutch-bond pattern. Although the inclusion of brick on the renovated facade is only surface level, their hand-molded fabrication lends an imperfect and wrinkled surface with slight variances in dimension—a gradient of patina blending with the overall streetwall. UN Studio founder Ben van Berkel will discuss The Looking Glass, and other projects, at the opening keynote for Facades+ New York City on April 2nd.

Brought to you with support from

• Facade Manufacturer Fabbrica Tianjin North Glass AGC Asia Guardian Glass Gastaldello Sistemi YKK
• Architect REX
• Facade Installer TSI Wall Systems
• Facade Consultant Front Inc.
• Developer Tishman Speyer
• Structural Engineer LERA Consulting Engineers
• Location Washington, D.C.
• Date of Completion August 2019
• System Custom flush-glazed curtain wall system
• Products Guardian SunGuard SuperNeutral 68 low-E coating Guardian UltraClear low-iron glass AGC Stopsol Supersilver Gastaldello Sistemi aluminum framing

Tishman Speyer is the developer of 2050 M Street, whose construction was overseen by the managing director of design and construction, Rustom Cowasjee. The non-concrete block structure construction began in March 2018 and facade installation wrapped up in August 2019. The massing of the twelve-story office building is rectangular and boxy, a common trait in D.C. to maximize square footage within the city’s zoning constraints and height limitations. For REX, one of the challenges of the project was to establish a lightness and verticality for what is an overwhelmingly horizontal project. To heighten the sense of verticality of 2050 M Street, the design team turned towards the architectural technique of fluting; a feature stemming from antiquity, where shallow vertical grooves were largely applied to columns and pilasters. In place of detailed masonry, the enclosure is composed of approximately 900 curved IGUs, their outward-facing concave surfaces treated with a pyrolytic coating, and form a high-relief facade with a striking kaleidoscope-like impression of the surrounding streetscape and weather features. Each floor-to-ceiling panel measures 11'-3" by 5'—those at the top two floors are 12'-10" and 12'-13" tall and form a quasi-cornice above the top slab edge—and have a 9'-6" radius formed through a heat roller tempering process. The project is topped by a separate row of 4'-tall panels that serve as a parapet.  The curvature of the panels also plays a critical role in the office building's remarkable degree of transparency; the compressive strength of the curves allowed for the panels to be mullion-less, and only supported by brackets anchored to the floor slab and laterally restrained at the head to allow for differential movement. As an additional measure to heighten the lightness of the facade, the structure’s perimeter columns are set back over 12 feet from the glazing to permit nearly undisrupted outward views. Following REX’s design intent for 2050 M Street, Front Inc. developed a comprehensive system with prescriptive specifications for all aspects of the glass assembly. The design and analysis package was the basis for the facade bid package for prospective fabricators and sub-contractors—Tishman Speyer funded full-scale mockups from each bidder for on-site evaluations by the design team. Ultimately, two firms were signed on to handle fabrication: Tianjin North Glass handled the fabrication of the IGUs cut from Guardian Glass and AGC Asia glass sheets, while Fabbrica managed the aluminum-and-glass modules at their Connecticut facility and handled shipment to Washington, D.C. “The engagement with the glass fabricators started during schematic design and continued even after the last piece of glass was shipped to the site,” continued Ramus and Simmons. “The actual design of the panels remained unaltered when we received manufacturer feedback; the focus was confirming the viability of cost, quality and schedule of fabrication.” REX founding principal Joshua Ramus, Front Inc. founding principal Marc Simmons, and Tishman Speyer managing director of design & construction Rustom Cowasjee will present 2050 M Street at Facades+ Washington, D.C. on February 20 as part of the "Curved and Pleated: Advanced Applications of Glass" panel.

Brought to you with support from

• Facade Manufacturer Cricursa Tvitec
• Designer James Carpenter Design Associates
• Facade Installer Permasteelisa
• Facade Consultant Surface Design Group
• Facade Structural Engineer schlaich bergermann partner
• Location New York
• Date of Completion 2019
• System Custom curtwainwall system
• Products XXL Cricursa Curved Glass

Spanish glass manufacturer Cricursa—one of the few with the technical capacity to produce extra-large curved glass panels—was pulled into the project at an early stage. According to JCDA, “The design started with the glass itself and worked out to the surrounding frame system, so ensuring the bent profiles were achievable both in terms of structure, manufacturing, handling, and shipping was important in the early design stages, most critically in the visual mockup and the performance mockup stages.” In total, there are five typical profiles and four unique corner profiles, and their dimensions range in height from 17'-6" to approximately 19'-6", and in width from 3'-10" to 6'-2". The result is a striking succession of convexities and concavities following an A-A-B-B rhythm, with occupiable spaces similar to that of bay windows. It is difficult to overstate the complexity of the curtain wall system, and New York-based facade consultant Surface Design Group played an essential role in balancing aesthetic concerns, thermal performance, structural behavior, and code compliance. “The final glass composition was developed as a slump formed, complex curved, insulated glass unit, comprised of various layers of laminated, low-iron glass and a subtle, custom ceramic dot frit pattern,” said Surface Design Group partner Benson Gillespie. “Aluminum mullions were stretch-formed to an exacting tolerance that matched the glass.” The curtainwall is backed by a diaphanous steel mesh veil, that, similar to the now-defunct pool room of the Mies van der Rohe’s Four Seasons, filters daylight and adds a layer of depth, with shadows and iridescence, to the facade.  

Brought to you with support from

• Facade Manufacturer AGC Interpane Alucabond Euro Sabbiature Ductal Permasteelisa
• Architect Studio Gang Architects
• Facade Installer Permasteelisa
• Facade Consultant Heintges
• Location San Francisco, CA
• Date of Completion 2020
• System Custom aluminum curtainwall system
• Products AGC Interpane Planibel Clearlite with Ipasol Shine 59/32 & Planibel Clearlite ACM Panels by Alucabond L01 UHPC Ductal Panels

Studio Gang turned towards the architectural vernacular of the San Francisco-area for the overall form and massing of the tower and townhomes, reinterpreting classical bay windows into a contemporary gesture. There are ten different bay geometries: each is an isosceles triangle 14-feet wide and with differing spandrel and glazing dimensions, and with a maximum depth of six-and-a-half feet. Thirty bay window units are found at each level, adding up to, in total, over 1,000 across the tower. Shifting the bay geometries was not the initial direction of the project but a discovery during the design phase that, through offsetting and repeating a set of variations every 10 floors, a profound level of detail could be added to the project without causing undue complications in fabrication and construction. Through the inclusion of bay units across the facade, each residence is afforded daylight from multiple directions and sweeping views of the city at large. Facade consultant Heintges joined the project during the early schematic design phase to both conceptualize the enclosure design and develop a facade system with sufficient waterproofing and compatibility with locational seismic requirements. “In this system, the windows act like a freestanding window wall, loaded at the sill and allowing movement at the header,” said the Studio Gang design team. “The spandrel panels, on the other hand, are rigid enough to take the wind loads and transfer the window loads down to the slab.” The resiliency of the tower is further strengthened by a heavy central core that allows for exterior pieces to move independently of another during seismic events. For the longterm maintenance of the facade (specifically window washing at great heights) Studio Gang and Heintges incorporated a number of intermittent stabilization anchors across the bay units. In collaboration with building maintenance consultant CS Caulkins and cleaning device fabricator Sky Rider, the design team developed a custom platform capable of being lifted between the bays by integrated attachment points. The project broke ground in late 2017 and topped out in mid-2019; Permasteelisa handled the fabrication and installation of the facade panels and typically fitted out each floor in four days, completing the job at the tail end of 2019. The bays were fastened directly to the slab edge from within the building, a measure that, along with the division of spandrel and infill, reduced the use of a crane on-site and in turn lessened energy consumption and neighborhood disruptions stemming from site logistics. “Three-dimensional aluminum spandrels cover the slab edge and are anchored to the post-tensioned slab with steel embeds that extend vertically,” continued the Studio Gang design team. “Behind the aluminum panels are stiffeners that resist wind loads, reduce deflections, and control flatness. In order to realize the steps between bay geometry variations, there is always a horizontal portion of the panel which either faces up as a sill condition or down as a soffit condition.” Studio Gang principal Steve Wiesenthal and Heintges senior principal Karen Brandt will present MIRA Tower at Facades+ San Francisco on January 31 as part of the “Twists and Stacks: Assembly Innovations” panel.  

Brought to you with support from

• Facade Manufacturer ShenZhen ShenNanYi Glass ODS Walasco Kingspan
• Architect MVRDV
• Facade Installer Sorba
• Facade Consultant ABT
• Location Rotterdam, Netherlands
• Date of Completion 2021
• System Custom system of brackets
• Products ShenZhen ShenNanYi Glass Mirror Glass

Depot broke ground in 2017 and rises from an approximately 22,000-square-foot concrete foundation that supports a seven-story, poured concrete sphere that cantilevers over 30 feet in every direction. At its thickest, the sphere is one-and-a-half-feet in section—a built-in anti-burglary measure—and is punctured by just a handful of window openings to prevent sunlight from reaching the interior. Brackets were anchored into the structure during the concrete pour, and are further supplemented by a secondary network of small black frames; Rotterdam's municipal code requires secondary safety measures for facade cladding. Installation of the mirrored panels began in April 2019 and are arranged into 26 horizontal layers consisting of 64 identical panels, with each layer conforming to the curvature of the concrete shell. Prior to fabrication, the design team digitally unfolded the sphere's surface into a two-dimensional format inlaid with the cutting pattern, which was in turn exported to the manufacturer. Each panel consists of two layers of glass separated by multiple layers of reflective foils, which were curved together during the fabrication process. A layer of insulation produced by Kingspan backs the panels and facade installer Sorba incised the membrane using a 3D model of the supporting brackets to reduce thermal bridging. Although the bulk of the mirrored panels are subject to the same treatment, there are certain segments that correspond to nearby structures. For example, a significant block of the eastern elevation is composed of a less reflective coating to guard the privacy of patients found at the adjacent Erasmus Medical Center. Additionally, mirrored glass panels abutting windows are treated to transition to those transparent moments. The project is expected to be completed in Spring 2020 and will open in 2021.

Brought to you with support from

• Facade Manufacturer Boston Valley Terracotta Interpane Permasteelisa
• Architect Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects SLCE Architects (Executive Architect)
• Facade Installer Permasteelisa
• Facade Consultant Vidaris
• Location New York
• Date of Completion 2019
• System Custom unitized system
• Products INTERPANE Ipasol Platin 52-36 Boston Valley Terracotta extruded terra-cotta panels

"We were cautious not to fall into the trappings of architectural style and appearance, but rather to emulate the repetition and movement of the Jazz Age and the expressive machinery that celebrated the still young industrial age," said Pelli Clarke Pelli principal Craig Copeland. "The chevron emerged as a key motif for the project; and we soundly incorporated it throughout from the scale of the skyline, to the touch of many close-up details." The base of the project begins with a 100-foot-tall metal screen that cloaks shared residential spaces and is indented with the tower's prevailing chevron detail. Lifting the residences measurably above street level and shrouding the podium with perforated metal is a clever aesthetic solution to engineering requirements. Similar to SHoP's 111 57th Street, the narrow profile of the tower—floor plates are approximately 3,000 square feet— required significant shear walls on the east and west elevations, and is further stabilized by a 400-ton tuned mass damper located at the bulkhead. A series of hinged setbacks occur as the tower rises, shifting the face of the primary elevation to the northeast and northwest in a playful nod to contextual massing. The orientation of the terra-cotta panels corresponds to the alternating facade planes, and are colored cream and dark brown. Using the latter was a practical solution to heighten the depth of a relatively shallow architectural detail, and the terra-cotta bands form something of an abstract impression of fluted buttresses. The design of the facade and the dimensions of the curtain wall units were impacted by the constraints of the site, and contractors relied on a hoist run rather than a conventional crane to install the panels. Typical curtain wall units measure approximately 5'-8" by 11' and 3' by 11', and the terra-cotta units are 4'-4" by 11'. According to Pelli Clarke Pelli associate principal Jimmy Chang, "The design team had to work with this limitation and modify the much more expressed facade (deep saw-tooth profile), to smaller and shallower profile units." Through scaling down the unit sizes, fabricator and installer Permasteelisa saved time in assembly and installation which ultimately translated to overall cost savings of the curtain wall. On the second day of Facades+ NYC, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, engineering firm BüroEhring, and Roschmann Steel & Glass Construction will lead an intensive workshop titled "(P)ReFabricate: An Interactive Reinterpretation of Prefabricated Building Enclosures." Attendees of the workshop will collaborate closely with the team of nine instructors to recalibrate the designs of one of eight prefabricated case studies according to a change in context, contemporary energy standards, and ease of assembly.  

Brought to you with support from

• Facade Manufacturer Hunter Douglas Steinfort Glas Vanceva
• Architect Olson Kundig
• Facade Installer Hoffman Construction
• Facade Consultant Front
• Location Pullman, WA
• Date of Completion 2018
• System Hunter Douglas rainscreen
• Products Steinfort mirrored glass Vanceva OECE Interlayer

Steinfort Glas, a manufacturer based in the Netherlands, produced the mirrored glass facade panels in three different dimensions which function as a relatively conventional rainscreen. The facade's composition achieves a patterned effect through alternating courses of square panels, measuring 3'-4" by 3'-6", and rectangular panels, measuring 3'-4" by 1'-8". The horizontality of each elevation is broken up by steps of larger square panels that are roughly double in size at 6'-6" by 7'-0". "I wanted the museum to have a highly reflective facade as a means of weaving it into its context," continued Olson. "While appearing rather solid and uniform from afar, the reflective crimson cube rewards viewers upon closer inspection, much like the artworks housed within." The effect is achieved through the placement of colored interlayer glass between the mirrored glass panels. The installation of the rainscreen was fairly straightforward and was handled by Hoffman Construction Company, a contracting firm based in the Pacific Northwest. A mounting clip adheres to the back of each individual glass panel, which is subsequently attached to an aluminum rainscreen system produced by Hunter Douglas. The rainscreen system allowed for minor adjustments on site via screws set through the panel joints. Olson Kundig principal Blair Payson will be co-instructing the workshop "Glass Design and Avoiding Catastrophic Failures: Design Choices, Practical Solutions, and Complex Engineering," at Facades+ Seattle on December 6.

Brought to you with support from

• Facade Manufacturer Vitro GnT Glass Company Yongnam Holdings Limited
• Architect Safdie Architects
• Facade Installer Mero Asia Pacific Choon Hin Stainless Steel
• Facade Consultant BuroHappold Engineering
• Location Singapore
• Date of Completion October 2019
• System Custom-shell gird
• Products Vitro Solarban 70XL, Solarban 72, and Starphire Ultra-Clear

From above, the pavilion’s layout looks symmetrical, with many identical glass panels. This is not the case. “The design of the roof is a single-layer add-on system composed of 9,000 custom cut—no two panels are the same—double-glazed panels positioned over the triangulated steel diagrid structure,” said Safdie Architects principal Jaron Lubin. “The double-glazed panel sizes were determined to a maximum dimension of 8.5 feet measured diagonally, which was the size found commonly among several major suppliers.” The project is wrapped with Vitro Architectural Glass’s Low-E Solarban glass, while Vitro’s high-visibility Starphire Ultra-Clear is used for the interior’s pedestrian bridges. By using Low-E glass, the project is slated to receive a platinum rating from Singapore’s GreenMark program. Although the mechanics of the project are remarkably complex, Safdie Architects developed a design-to-construction methodology to ensure the timely completion of the pavilion. “The entire system, including glass panels, steel members, and the custom-shaped solid steel nodes, was fabricated directly from the design team’s computer model by CNC robots,” said Lubin. “The components were produced off-site and then shipped to Singapore in containers. Special labels with scan codes were used on all the components to assist in locating their final position in the building.” The centrally located Rainwater Vortex, the massive waterfall around an oculus approximately 33 feet in diameter, is the product of collaboration with BuroHappold Engineering and water-feature design firm WET Design. The oculus is topped with an ETFE cushion while a custom-designed circular valve controls water flow between a narrow gap in the glass facade’s surface.