At the University of Maryland, the A. James Clark School of Engineering is edging closer to unveiling the new $90 million A. James Clark Hall. The 184,000-square-foot building will act as a hub for research and all engineering disciplines. One of its more striking features (aside from the plethora of technology due to be housed inside) is the facade that runs along Paint Branch Drive.

The facade provides eastward views onto the pedestrian plaza from a long-spanning multi-use classroom, known as the “flex lab.” Yosuke Kikuchi, engineering center manager at YKK AP, said the firm used the YUW 750 XT Unitized Curtain Wall System integrated with its sunshade system “in order to meet the demanding project schedule.”

Architectural Services Manager and YKK AP Ivan Zuniga elaborated, saying how the project was originally designed as a stick built curtain wall system, but construction schedule constraints meant that using a unitized curtain wall and custom baguette sunshade system allowed them to meet deadlines. In doing so, stainless steel sunshade brackets were used, in lieu of aluminum brackets, in order to meet the high thermal performance requirements of the project. The unitized curtain wall and sunshade systems were fabricated in a shop and shipped to the job site for installation.

In this Design Assist project, commercial fenestration systems supplier YKK AP worked alongside Philadelphia-based Ballinger Architects and contractors Clark Construction (general) from Maryland and Glass & Metals Inc. (glazing) from Virginia. A. James Clark Hall is scheduled to open this year and has been designed to achieve LEED Silver certification.

Zuniga will be speaking at the Facades+AM conference in New York this April. There he will discuss his firm’s adaptive reuse work in further detail. Seating is limited. To register, go to am.facadesplus.com.