Lights On and Lights Out
by Jonathan McGaha | 29 November 2012 12:00 am
The UC Davis Health System has been expanding and the new parking structure at the UC Medical Center in Sacramento, Calif., required the design be both sensitive to the privacy of patients in the adjacent hospital building and get enough light into the interior of the structure so it didn’t become a dungeon-like environment.
Sacramento-based Dreyfuss & Blackford Architects designed a louver system from Sapa Extrusions, Rosemont, Ill., that allows for light reflectivity and permeability while protecting the patients from curious or casual passersby. At the same time, the pattern of louvers provides such a unique façade that one of the judges said he would be using the idea on a future structure.
Jason A. Silva, AIA, LEED AP, is a design principal at Dreyfuss
& Blackford Architects and served as the design architect on the project. “The louvers have multiple functions,” he says. “On the southern elevations (facing the streets) they tilt out from the top so they bounce light into each floor level. On the elevation facing the hospital, the louvers are angled out at the bottom to maintain privacy for the hospital bedrooms in the adjacent towers, while allowing visibility down to the street level. The space created by the large projection from the face of the building (from 12 inches up to 15 feet offset) allows light to travel down to the lower levels and then reflect back into the garage.”
Silva and the design team went through several iterations of the layout and settled on the final version after running tests to determine daylighting levels. “We found the version that was most diverse allowed the most light, with the benefit of a more dynamic light and shadow pattern that changes throughout the day,” Silva says. In addition, the varied patterns reflect surrounding light and colors more randomly, which according to Silva mimics the way a tree canopy reflects light on the ground. At night, he says, “headlights and taillights dance about on the façade of the building, but only when in motion. As if a reflection of the building’s use, it performs a light show for the vehicles passing by.”
The selection of aluminum and choice of white served multiple purposes. The color scheme worked with the university’s “clean machine” aesthetic. The aluminum provides durability and lightness that recall the innovations in health and medicine that are occurring on campus.
UC Davis Medical Center Parking Structure III, Sacramento, Calif.
Completed: July 2012
Total square footage: 423,000 square feet
Building owner: UC Davis Health System
Construction cost: $20 million
Architect: Dreyfuss & Blackford Architects, Sacramento, www.db-arch.com
General contractor: McCarthy Building Cos., Sacramento, www.mccarthy.com
Structural engineer: Watry Design Inc., San Jose, Calif., www.watrydesign.com
Metal installer: RankerAMG, Sacramento, rankeramg.com
Louvers: Sapa Extrusions, Rosemont, Ill., www.sapagroup.com
Louvers: Sapa Extrusions, Rosemont, Ill., www.sapagroup.com lightness that recall the innovations in health and medicine that are occurring on campus.
Source URL: https://www.metalconstructionnews.com/articles/lights-on-and-lights-out/