Custom Aluminum Screen at Scott Hall / image 1
Custom Aluminum Screen at Scott Hall / image 2
Custom Aluminum Screen at Scott Hall / image 3
Custom Aluminum Screen at Scott Hall / image 4
Custom Aluminum Screen at Scott Hall / image 5

Custom Aluminum Screen at Scott Hall

Client: Carnegie Mellon University

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Type: Higher Education, Interdisciplinary Teaching and Research

LEED Gold Certified

The Photonic Knot Stainless Steel Screen:  The need for a seventy percent open area within the glazed curtain wall system of the building created an opportunity for expressing the abstracted geometry of scientific ideas at a different scale with a focus on quality and craft. The photonic quasi-crystal geometry designed into the ceramic frit glazing on the building is here enlarged until the lines of the circle patterns intersect to mimic interwoven beams of light whose structure is knotted, a concept abundant in nature.  Inspiration came from the concept of light (photonics), electromagnetism, knotted strands and the topology of knots that can unlock the secrets of many three-dimensional processes.  Crafted of custom water-jet cut panels fabricated in Oregon, the new horizontal screen fulfills the need for ventilation behind the panels and embodies the high quality research conducted within the building.

Photography by OFFICE 52 Architecture