Duke University, Durham, North Carolina (USA)
Duke University in the North American state of North Carolina is regularly on lists of the 20 best universities in the world. It is not only the quality of teaching that contributes to the good reputation. The extensive campus complex is also impressive. On an area of almost 35 square kilometres, more than 250 buildings are partly organised in the city and partly landscaped in picturesque parks and gardens. Inspired by the predominantly neo-Gothic architecture, the students like to speak of the “Gothic Wonderland”. As an initial project for a comprehensive transformation of this wonderland, the architects of Shepley Bulfinch have built the glass “Penn Pavilion” in the heart of the university.
The architects found a subtle answer to the neo-Gothic style of the surroundings in the design language and materiality of the modern glass building: the earlier building periods with their sculptural stone facades are given a light and transparent counterpoint by the all-glass façades. At the same time, the pavilion is located with its base, which was layered from the same local stone as the adjacent facades of the West Campus.
The simple and quick conversion of the pavilion was part of the planning from the very beginning. The new building will be used temporarily as a replacement canteen. On about 2,300 square meters, it offers space for 450 seats. Later, the elongated floor plan can be optimally and flexibly adapted – completely without partition walls for individual events for up to 700 people or divided into three smaller areas. The building services, such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning, as well as the artificial lighting and daylight planning, are also arranged and integrated in such a way that functional adjustments to the interior are as easy as possible to implement.
Project data
Homogeneous outer shell with different installation requirements
The façade glass (837 m²), which is manufactured entirely by Schollglas, ensures an optically homogeneous outer shell, despite the different requirements depending on the installation location. The self-supporting façade on the front is particularly impressive. The concave glass shell seems almost dematerialised: it allows views in and out, creating a connection between the massive grid façades of the existing building and the adjacent forest and park area. This maximum transparency was achieved with mullion-free glazing and vertical silicone joints of only 15 mm width. The glasses are mounted horizontally and only divided once in height, resulting in panes about 4.19 m high in different widths up to about 2.15 m. They were designed as modern GEWE-therm® thermal insulation glass, whose individual components combine various glass finishing processes. For example, laminated safety glass and thermally toughened toughened safety glass, which were subjected to a heat soak test, were used. To prevent excessive heating on the south side, a highly selective sun protection coating was also used. The special coating has a high light transmission of 65%, but only allows 34% of the total energy into the room. This coating combination ensures maximum daylight down to the depth of the room while at the same time minimising heating along the glass front. In addition, a screen-printed stripe decoration was applied to some of the glass elements, which gives the façade rhythm and structure in terms of design.
Small contact surface, big effect
The glazing of the mullion-transom façade on the rear side of the building had to fulfil completely different functions. The panes with formats up to 4.41 m high and up to 2.10 m wide are each placed on two point holders, which are concealed in a horizontal silicone joint. They are held in place by vertical façade swords. In order to ensure a high level of energy efficiency of the pavilion, GEWE-therm® thermal insulation glass from Schollglas was also used here. With a glazing thickness of only 32 mm, an extremely filigree structure was created with contemporary thermal insulation.
Printed lenses for a modern look
The design principle of the printed glass with the light grey stripe pattern is continued in the mullion-transom façade and is additionally expanded with full-surface screen printing. The sanitary and technical rooms of the building are therefore not visible, but at the same time it was possible to include them in the continuous design with glass facades.
With the fully glazed “Penn Pavilion”, Shepley Bulfinch have not only created a striking counterpoint to the stone surrounding buildings, but have also shown the technical and physical developments that architecture has taken since the times of the rather small and slender window incisions of the Neo-Gothic period. In addition, the event pavilion also lived up to the active protection of the environment to which Duke University is committed in its construction activities – it was awarded LEED Silver certification.
