Metal Fabrics Architect Highlight: NBBJ Design

December 27, 2016

NBBJ merits recognition for their unyielding commitment to designing energy efficient buildings. As part of our architecture, engineering and design highlight series we are featuring the award-winning, internationally renowned architects at NBBJ. Interestingly, the firm was founded in 1943 and was originally known as Naramore, Bain, Brady and Johanson, later changing their name to their combined initials.

NBBJ was recognized as one of the “greenest” architectural firms in the United States. In addition to accepting the Architecture 2030 Challenge, the team has sustainability engrained into every rendered design. The Architecture 2030 initiative is a commitment that all new construction will be carbon neutral by 2030.

NBBJ, the 700-person global network of architects, planners and interior designers, builds corporate, commercial, education and healthcare facilities around the world. With the offices from Beijing to Boston, the team has been recognized on an international scale for their innovative designs.

The new Samsung headquarters in San Jose, California is a testament to the firm’s tendency to partner with like-minded companies that also includes Google, Amazon and Microsoft. NBBJ specified 36,000 square feet of GKD’s Omega 1520 metal mesh to create a towering ten-story parking garage for the Samsung project. In the very first application of its kind in the US, the project utilizes a screen-printed mesh that enables a circuit board design that was applied directly to the metal fabric. Addition energy efficient building materials were specified such as terracotta, white metal and glass to further aid the reduction of solar intake and energy consumption.

In Beijing, NBBJ was challenged with designing a luxury Northern Chinese mall in Dalian, known as Eton Place Dalian. A six-level mall with a polygonal façade sits at the heart of Eton Place with a transparent Mediamesh display with integrated LED technology. Two screens and 11 panels spanning 34 feet high and 78 feet wide show advertisements for luxury brands at the entrance of the urban plaza. The GKD Mediamesh display proved to the be the ideal material to specify for the Dalian destination for its maintenance-free qualities combined with a reduced energy consumption of 80 percent less than traditional digital displays. 

NBBJ consistently seeks opportunities to create healthy buildings with fresh air, natural daylight and sustainable materials. These principles led the architects at NBBJ to specify stainless steel metal mesh for two projects, both domestic and abroad. Whether NBBJ is pioneering new strategies as with the screen-printed mesh on the Samsung Headquarters, or simply solving aesthetic and energy challenges as with the media display on Eton Place, they are always serving a higher good of creating spaces that…free people to live, learn, work and play as they were meant to.”

Photography courtesy of NBBJ Design

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