PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE THE STEEL INSTITUTE OF NEW YORK METALS IN CONSTRUCTION THE ORNAMENTAL METAL INSTITUTE OF NEW YORK PAID 211 EAST 43RD STREET, SUITE 804 PUBLISHED BY THE STEEL INSTITUTE OF NEW YORK AND THE ORNAMENTAL METAL INSTITUTE OF NEW YORK NEW YORK NY 10017 PERMIT NO. 161 LANCASTER, PA FALL 10 ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH CENTER / 200 FIFTH AVENUE / RESCUE COMPANY 3 / COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NORTHWEST CORNER BUILDING FACADE / COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NORTHWEST CORNER BUILDING STRUCTURE/ MILSTEIN FAMILY HEART CENTER / GATEWAY CENTER AT BRONX PUBLISHED BY THE STEEL INSTITUTE OF NEW YORK AND THE ORNAMENTAL METAL INSTITUTE OF NEW YORK TERMINAL MARKET / MEDGAR EVERS COLLEGE ACADEMIC BUILDING 1 1 Metals in Construction Fall 2010 2 CONTENTS EDITOR’S NOTE FALL 10 Transparency by design 1 FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS but painterly fashion achieve a EDITOR’S NOTE now, the ads we place in industry transparency that reveals the 2 publications have featured the structure, enticing people to look ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY slogan Transforming design at, not through, the wall system. COLLABORATIVE into reality. It is meant as an Developments in coatings, light RESEARCH CENTER expression distinguishing the role modulating treatments on glass, our industry plays from that of as well as sun screening devices, 10 200 FIFTH AVENUE the designer in creating the built lead to an energy responsive cli- environment. Design aspirations mate wall concept in the Milstein 16 need applicable building technol- Family Heart Center. There the RESCUE COMPANY 3 ogies for successful realization, designer’s goal was to bring the and new concepts must foster outdoors in, to aid in instilling 22 even newer technologies in order hope in those facing life-threat- COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NORTHWEST CORNER to be realized. The innovations ening illnesses. In embracing the BUILDING FACADE arising from this collaboration idea of transparency, these proj- are what inspire the next era of ects’ design teams explored not 26 designs, marking an evolutionary only the possibilities of glass but COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY cycle that has long been impor- of systems to support it, wanting NORTHWEST CORNER tant to the advancement the elements to be as minimal BUILDING STRUCTURE of architecture. Nowhere has this as possible without compromis- 32 collaboration been more influen- ing strength. Designing systems MILSTEIN FAMILY tial than in the development of such as this requires a high HEART CENTER curtain wall systems. In this issue degree of knowledge on the part those influences are apparent as of the engineers and enclosure 38 four of the articles document the consultants, knowledge of both GATEWAY CENTER AT BRONX TERMINAL MARKET technical aspects of curtain wall the forces and of the fittings projects where building technol- and fixtures appropriate to resist 42 ogy was instrumental in achiev- them. With this knowledge, and MEDGAR EVERS COLLEGE ing the designer’s goals. While with advances in engineering, ACADEMIC BUILDING 1 the goals differ, in each transpar- material and glass technology, ency is the dominant theme. At architects continue to aspire Rockefeller University Collabora- to new designs, aspirations that tive Research Center transpar- industry is able to transform ency was desired for the visual into reality. experience, not only from within but from without, an experience enhanced by complex geometry and the museum-like encasing of an existing neoclassical facade. At 200 Fifth Avenue, transparency is used to provide dramatic views of a newly config- ured courtyard, views that helped create a desirable office environ- ment out of uninspiring tenant space. At Columbia University’s Northwest Corner Building, where the scheme of the curtain wall is integrally linked to the building’s steel structural system, Gary Higbee, AIA, Editor glass and louvered aluminum [email protected] / panels alternating in a rational [email protected] Copyright ©2010 by The Steel Institute of New York The information contained in this magazine is merely general and illustrative in nature. Above The Milstein Family Heart and The Ornamental Metal Institute of New York The Institutes assume no responsibility for either the design or actual cost of any structure Center’s double-skin curtain wall, resulting from the use of the information contained herein, nor should anything herein designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Published by The Steel Institute of New York be construed as either an endorsement or disapproval of any systems or designs indicated. and The Ornamental Metal Institute of New York Anyone relying upon or making use of this information does so at his or her own risk and assumes any and all liability or consequences resulting therefrom. Paul cover: Warchol; Adam Friedberg Adam Friedberg Metals in Construction Fall 2010 1 The Rockefeller University Collaborative Research Center Renovations to two laboratories create a bridge each profile. A gasket system between an academic institution’s past and future was installed over the glazing scientific accomplishments. adaptors prior to installation of low iron insulating glass with Interpane Ipasol Neutral 73/39 WHEN THE ROCKEFELLER and creative. Maintaining a line of low-e coating. University began thinking about sight through the bridge building The adjacent flat walls consist its future in the next millennium, was important yet complicated of a unitized aluminum curtain it turned to two buildings that had because the buildings’ longitudi- wall system containing the same helped foster more than 20 Nobel nal axes are at right angles to one glass and hung from each floor Prize-winning scientists during another. The designers decided slab with aluminum anchors. the past century. The buildings, the new curtain wall would appear To minimize the appearance of Theobald Smith Hall, built in 1930, as an extension of Smith, whose the edge of the floor slab the and Flexner Hall, built in 1917, original steel framing made re- designers used a painted steel form the historic northeast corner moval of its southern face easier, plate instead of concealed of the 14-acre Manhattan campus. while Flexner still reads as one spandrel zones. To continue the university’s out- building, its distinctive masonry While the flat panels are sup- standing legacy of achievement, bearing walls visible through ported at each floor, the coni- both buildings needed updating the new glass facade. “We are cal portion is hung from above. of their facilities, as well as of very happy with the transpar- Because framing it entirely in their institutional model. ency of the curtain wall,” says concrete would have made it The university hired New York- Jillian Sheedy, senior associate too heavy, much of the rooftop based Mitchell/Giurgola Archi- at Mitchell/Giurgola. “From the structure from which the curtain tects to undertake a gut renova- outdoors one can still experi- wall hangs is framed in steel. This tion of the obsolete research ence the elegance of the entire hybrid component supporting buildings. Both infrastructure and neoclassical facade of the Flexner the curved facade consists of a laboratory spaces were in need building,” horseshoe-shaped concrete ring of total replacement, but the Working with curtain wall con- beam that is cantilevered past the new labs boast more than high- sultant R.A. Heintges & Associ- setback exterior columns to the tech research facilities; bridging ates, Mitchell/Giurgola designed face of the flat wall. There, the the open space between the the curtain wall with large hori- ends support a W24x306 steel two buildings—literally and zontal spans that create dramatic beam with a depth of 24 inches figuratively—is a seven-story views toward the entry plaza to and a length of 48 feet, the beam atrium designed to facilitate the west and the river to the east. being pocketed into each end interaction between Rockefeller’s The dramatic 17,000-square-foot of the horseshoe. This beam in scientists. As a symbol of the western portion consists of two turn supports a series of 24-inch collaboration that will take place different panel systems in order to steel beams cantilevering up to there, this dramatic elliptical create the conical wall and the flat 18 feet to support the outer arc atrium, enclosed by a metal and portions on either side. To sup- of the curve—a series of W8x35 glass curtain wall and, on the port the conical portion, custom beams each roll bended to interior, by a wooden lattice steel framing members were create the curved shape—from structure, offers a glimpse built up by welding together steel which the curtain wall hangs. The of the university’s forward-think- plates and finishing the exposed back span of each cantilever is ing vision while respecting its surface before painting. Each supported on the east side of past accomplishments. member had an access pocket the building by a much lighter The architects’ goal of creat- that allowed fastening it to an W24x62 long-span beam, which ing a light-filled space in which adjacent mullion or transom. Steel frames into a deep concrete The Collaborative Research Center scientists can meet and share infill plates were added to cover beam below. connects Smith (left) and Flexner halls with a seven-story glass enclosed ideas involved several key design the access pockets and then steel Mike Lynch, senior associate bridge building. Adam Friedberg considerations, both practical glazing adaptors were welded to and project manager with the 2 Metals in Construction Fall 2010 Rockefeller University Collaborative Research Center 3 project’s structural engineering Above Recessed glass handrail Facing The curved curtain wall com- firm, Severud Associates, says shoes hidden by painted aluminum pletes the building’s elliptical shape that the primary challenge was to fascias and custom stainless steel and creates a visual connection to railings and stand-offs maintain the the campus. calculate the deflection of each stair’s weightless appearance.