We believe that highly resolved, thoughtful details have a tremendous impact on the character and experience of our buildings.  We strive for architectural details that reinforce what buildings mean to the people who use them while integrating different trades and systems in ways that have clarity and purpose.

Photo of an installed screen.  Groups of fins that point toward the viewer open up as ‘windows’ in the façade. When the viewer moves position, these will appear more closed while other fin groups will become more transparent.

The Forsyth Pointe project, which includes two high-rise office towers connected by a single parking garage podium, exemplifies the power and impact of well-crafted details.  The garage screen was designed and detailed to be experientially dynamic, precise, easy to install, and affordable.  Our details allow this screening system to conceal over 1,200 cars while bringing scale, color and beauty to the urban fabric of Clayton, Missouri.

In this system, a single extruded aluminum shape is oriented within modular frames in multiple ways.  Different orientations change the perceived transparency of the screen in offset patterns, creating a sense of scale and rhythm that is visually engaging. As viewers move past the screen, the transparency zones fluctuate.

Additionally, the fins are painted four colors and arranged so that the aggregate color looking from one corner is different from the color looking from the opposite corner.  This creates a dynamic urban experience: the screen color changes continuously when the viewer moves around the building, and the two towers have a different perceptual palette for the same garage podium.

Garage screen components.  A single extruded aluminum shape is oriented and patterned in multiple ways within a framing system that hangs from the structure. Different colored fins create color and transparency modules that get repeated in patterns on the façade. The perceived color of screens change as you move around them.

The system is made with extruded aluminum, so it is extraordinarily precise, lightweight, easy to install, and highly resistant to weathering. A great team made this project possible: fabricated by TROCOFAB, installed by IWR, and managed by McCarthy Construction!

Rendering of lighting design. The screen accepts linear LED lights and the pattern of these lights represent the pattern of transparency ‘windows’ in the façade during daylight hours.