The last exterior panel is set on the Digital Arts & Media Center. That sentence sounds routine until you know that no two panels on this building are the same. The sculpted shell that wraps the screening theater, immersive gallery and broadcast studios is made of one-of-a-kind pieces, each with its own geometry, its own place and its own installation sequence. This milestone belongs to the team that got every one of them right.
A shell without repetition
Most building envelopes are designed around a few repeating panel types. Crews learn the sequence once, then repeat it floor after floor. This shell offered no such shortcut. Every panel was unique, so every panel had to be modeled, fabricated, delivered and installed in a specific order. One piece out of sequence could stall a whole elevation.
The team treated the envelope as a controlled supply chain rather than a trade package.
- Model to fabrication. Each panel came straight from the coordinated model, checked against the structure and the attachment system before release to the shop.
- Tagged and tracked. Every piece carried an identifier tied to its location, its delivery truck and its install date.
- Delivered in sequence. Shipments were sequenced to the installation plan, so the laydown area held only what the crew would set that week.
- Surveyed as it went. Field survey confirmed attachment points ahead of each lift, so tolerance problems were caught before a panel left the ground.
Built around studios and screens
Inside, the building is just as demanding. Broadcast studios and a screening theater need quiet mechanical systems, careful isolation from the structure and an enormous amount of low-voltage infrastructure. With the shell closed, those interior systems now move ahead in a protected building.
When every piece is unique, the schedule is the drawing. We tracked each panel like it was the only one, because it was.
Superintendent, GilbertLanham
What comes next
Interior finishes, theater and studio systems, and a staged commissioning program are next, so the owner's team can train on each system as it is turned over. Our thanks go to every crew, fabricator and trade partner who worked this envelope. If your project has a shape that has never been built before, we would like to help you build it.
