exteriors
PROJECT
Rainscreen Produces An Artful Façade Aluminum-panel system decreases building’s cooling load and works as a color-shifting wall of art.
A
rchitects specify rainscreen systems to fulfill
rael Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel (technion.ac.il).
Featuring iridescent, color-shifting PPG Duranar Vari-
two primary functions: first, to keep moisture
The 160,000-sq.-ft. structure was designed by Morphosis
Cool coatings, the panels were designed by Morphosis
from entering a building; second, to prevent
to be the “intellectual nerve center” of the campus, with
with A. Zahner Co. to create an artful façade that harmo-
heat from escaping. With collaboration between Mor-
classrooms, instructional labs, conference rooms, a lec-
nizes with the local landscape.
phosis Architects, New York (morphosis.com); A. Zahner
ture hall, café, and other shared spaces. PIXELS AND PERFORATIONS
Co., Kansas City, MO (azahner.com); and PPG, Spring-
The center also was planned with the ambitious goals
dale, PA (ppgmetalcoatings.com), the rainscreen system
of melding environmental sustainability with lead-
Zahner finished the panels with PPG’s iridescent coat-
on The Bloomberg Center at Cornell Tech does more
ing-edge design to achieve net-zero energy use and LEED
ing; then, using its Louvered ZIRA system, perforated
than serve those purposes—it also works as a color-shift-
certification at the Platinum level.
337,500 2-in. circular tabs across the exterior surface of
ing wall of art.
The most visible expression of those objectives is the
the rainscreen.
Set on New York City’s Roosevelt Island, The
exterior layer of the rainscreen, an aluminum-panel sys-
Because the perforations are individually programmed
Bloomberg Center is the first academic building on the
tem that envelopes the four-story building to decrease its
to reflect a specific volume of light, they act like pixels
new Cornell Tech (tech.cornell.edu) campus, an educa-
cooling load, while serving as a visual tether for its floating
that, when viewed from afar, produce a continuous image
tional partnership of Cornell Univ. and the Technion-Is-
40,000-sq.-ft. solar canopy.
depicting Manhattan’s skyline on the west façade and the
38
COMMERCI A L A RCHI T EC T URE
JULY 2018
commercialarchitecturemagazine.com
