Completed in November 2010, the 120,000-squarefoot, six-story building is home to the Pratt Institute’s School of Digital Arts, as well as other academic and administrative areas. The project is the first LEED Gold certified academic building in Brooklyn, and features a 25,000-square-foot unitized aluminum curtainwall, 7,200-square-foot pressure wall and 6,000 feet of 16-inch aluminum airfoil blade sunscreens, all manufactured by FM Graham.
Metal was selected for two essential reasons. The first, to create a sense of modernity and lightness, and that masonry or other materials seems inappropriate for this façade. Second, in order to maximize the degree of natural light penetration, a metal curtain wall seemed to be the best solution. All exposed aluminum on the building, including the sun louvers, is finished with a dark gray powder coat. The metal also helps project Pratt’s brand of design innovation into the larger community within which the building sits, just one block away from its traditional gated campus in Brooklyn.
Owner: Pratt Institute, Brooklyn
General contractor: Triton Construction Co., Garden City, N.Y.
Architect: WASA/Studio A, New York City
Metal installer: Crowne Architectural Systems, Hackensack, N.J.
Manufacturer: FM Graham, Merrill, Wis., www.fmgraham.com