To support the expansive roof, RPBW designed a set of four masonry structures—one at each corner—incorporating two of the original academy’s Neoclassical limestone walls in the northeast structure and using poured concrete for the others. Although not immediately apparent, memory informs Piano’s modern machine—in the building’s Neoclassical symmetry and its slender, steel hypostyle colonnades on each facade. Inside, the central piazza—partially covered by a “spider’s web” of cables, rods, and glass—recalls the old academy’s central courtyard, while re-creations of the institution’s barrel-vaulted African Hall and Doric-columned Steinhart Arch serve as touchstones for returning visitors.
The public enters the building from the north up a stepped podium, while the academy’s staff and research personnel cross a short bridge over a man-made ravine on the south. (By carving out earth for the ravine, RPBW brought daylight into the building’s two lower floors.) The solar canopy wrapping around the building’s perimeter provides a shaded transition space between indoors and out, in the process converting the sun’s rays into electricity. “It works just like the leaves of a tree,” explains Piano. On the west, an outdoor sculpture by Maya Lin helps tie the building to its park setting; a second piece by Lin—on the east—will open on Earth Day 2009.
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