Tyre’s team covered the exterior walls with Amico’s Apex 01 quarter-inch expanded aluminum mesh. Not only do the panels create a distinctive grid pattern on the facade, but they also function as a brise soleil, mitigating glare and heat gain from a band of new windows punched into the south and west walls. The Amenta Emma team even detailed the screen to ensure its pattern conceals as much of the support framework as possible for a cleaner look. Although the material is humble, that step, so important to the integrity of the design, required considerable coordination between the vendor, fabricator, and architects. The screen also needed to hold up under the added weight of accumulated ice in winter.

To add drama at the entry, a canopy of Cor-Ten steel panels from MetalTech USA combines with the aluminum screens to create dynamic angles. The two elements were conceived as a single-folded surface moving across the building, yet each has its own unique material articulation relative to its function.