Design-Assist

Advances
Exterior Panels/Cladding

Tallest Passive House Building Features Unique Colored Facade

As the tallest passive house building in the world at 26 stories, The House at Cornell Tech, designed by Handel Architects, features an innovative system of prefabricated metal panels. Triple-pane windows, mineral wool insulation and air and vapor barriers were factory-sealed into large, single-story curtainwall assemblies and then hoisted on to the building as fully integrated units. The super-tight insulation, combined with highly efficient heating, cooling and fresh-air circulation systems, reduces energy consumption by 70%, as compared to conventional designs.To really make the design pop, Handel worked with PPG to custom color the façade with Duranar MXL coatings. “We were lo

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University of Rochester Goergen Institute for Data Sciences
Case Study
Stone/Masonry

Driven by Data

The University of Rochester, in Rochester, N.Y., began accepting students to its new Goergen Institute of Data Science program in fall 2015, and two years later the school opened the doors to an ambitious new facility to house the effort.The building features a creative façade design by Kennedy & Violich Architects (KVA) that plays with the theme of a data-centric mission, offering a “coded” indicator of the work going on within its walls. At the same time, it also ties this very modern building to the larger campus, with its roots back to the 1930s.The campus is the university’s third home and was originally built as its College for Men in 1930. Its oldest buildings fe

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Case Study
Metal Fabrications

Univ. of Delaware Reimagined

By using non-traditional materials, like undulating coiled wire fabric walls and ceiling treatments, the new iSuite boasts an impeccable, award-winning design. Designed by Page, the former metal foundry turned iSuite includes a cyber range, collaborative hub and a maker space. Working with the college directly, the facility was designed using Page’s 3D printers and a student-created virtual reality model, developing a half-scale mockup to demonstrate that inverting the metal fabric would, in fact, be successful.“We’ve seen metal fabric draped as a catenary before, but this is the first time someone has used Fabricoil in the ‘wrong direction,’” says Lou Kru

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Dan Dipert Career + Technical Center, Arlington, Texas
Case Study
Solar Control/Sun Shading

Sun Shades Help Define CTC’s Building Envelope

The Dan Dipert Career + Technical Center (CTC) is creating a world of opportunity for teenagers in Arlington, Texas. Offering 36 different trade certifications and 18 career pathways, the CTC gives local high school juniors and seniors a chance to tackle their career or college path before they graduate high school. From a precision manufacturing shop where students learn how to cut metal for gears and machine parts to a kitchen for culinary arts, the 169,800-sq.-ft. facility serves as many as 2000 students every day who split time between CTC and their home high school. The building was built with flexible infrastructure so the classrooms can be transformed as new trades emerge, and equipme

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Advances
Flooring

Unraveling Custom Carpets

One of the advantages to using large-scale broadloom carpet found in hotel and hospitality designs is that they may be custom designed to evoke the sense of place even inside of a large ballroom or lobby. AP spoke to interior designer and architect, Jim Looney, president of Looney & Assocs., about his experience designing with Axminster carpet. For 21 years, Looney has specialized in interior design for hospitality environments at 4 to 5 star properties. Recently, for his client the Related Companies, Looney specified custom Axminster carpet from Brintons at Hilton West Palm Beach property. Looney says, “The reason we like to use it so often in our properties is from a construction, dura

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