The U.S. sunbelt runs roughly from Southern California through Florida and the Carolinas, an area, due to its intense heat and solar radiation, where building energy loads are at their highest, the result of excessive artificial cooling in what are often fully glazed structures. Growing emphasis on climate change and sustainability have impelled architects and developers to explore alternatives to all-glass curtain walls to maintain enticing outward views while reducing energy consumption and improving user comfort. Sunshades are one passive strategy design teams are increasingly taking advantage of to mitigate solar heat gain and glare.
The Applied Research Building (ARB), at the University of Arizona (UofA) in Tucson, designed by SmithGroup with McCarthy Building Companies, opened in April 2023 with a price tag of $85 million. At 89,000 square feet, it is home for UofA’s applied physical sciences and engineering programs, and serves as the school’s key research incubator for ongoing collaboration with NASA and other federal agencies. The mechanical load of the laboratory building, and the subsequent costs, required a finely tuned enclosure to reduce solar gain. The team developed a pleat-like arrangement—not unlike the solar arrays of the International Space Station—of protective aluminum-composite panels alternating with laminated-and-fritted glass fins. The reddish-brown color of the metal mirrors the prevailing masonry found on campus. “We went through exhaustive research of campus buildings, documenting the specific color of each brick, which ranges from a muted tan to a very saturated red,” notes SmithGroup vice president and design director Mark Kranz.
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