Completed in September 2013, the new Rutgers Business School is a landmark and a gateway on the Rutgers University Livingston campus in Piscataway, N.J. Known as “100 Rock,” the 143,000-square-foot building features two six-floor towers and a walkway connector that spans the intersection of East Avenue and Rockefeller Avenue.
Designed by TEN Arquitectos, New York City, the business school building is the first new academic building on the campus in more than 20 years. Its location makes it a gateway to welcome campus visitors. The building defines the southern edge of Retail Plaza and creates a street edge to Rockefeller Avenue, reinforcing the east-west campus-wide pedestrian axis. Additionally, the building is integrated with the landscape, allowing it to continue and embrace the natural preserve. Designed to LEED Silver equivalent standards, the building promotes learning, interaction and community, and provides a functional, workable design that serves the campus’ and students’ academic needs.
Bold Designs
The new business school building a unique, bold, inviting and contemporary design. Its exposed five-story-tall ceiling overhead protects the exterior plaza from the elements while serving as a flexible public meeting space for school functions and student gatherings. The building’s 10 canted columns support the southwest corner, which becomes a 60-foot-high bridge for a campus road.
Covering 30,000 square feet of the exterior wall surface, Metal Sales and Service Inc., Kennett Square, Pa., supplied 2,000 panels of its Metalwërks Arcwall DBV Rainscreen system. The custom-fabricated interlock plank rainscreen system was fabricated from 1/8-inch aluminum in a clear anodized finish. To create shadow patterns and rhythm on the exterior façade, the design called for four variegated shaped panels arranged in a random pattern.
The façade also features approximately 2,000 square feet of custom 3/16-inch solid plate Arcwall panels that border the glazed aluminum curtainwalls, plaza soffit perimeter and are perforated to provide ventilation for the enclosed spaces inside the building overhang.
Additionally, Moon Township, Pa.-based CENTRIA supplied approximately 25,000 square feet of its SRS 3 structural standing seam roof system in Bright Silver with a smooth finish, while Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope, Santa Monica, Calif., supplied its 9/16 low iron (Cool White) laminated architectural glass for the interior feature walls in the atrium area along with 20 aluminum interior doors.
Rainscreen Principles
With its variable patterns, the rainscreen system casts shade and light patterns as the light changes throughout the day. The anodized finish creates additional reflections to enhance the effect. Its drained, back-ventilated (DBV) design provides an interesting exterior appearance while protecting the building’s primary air/water seals from the elements.
Additionally, the wall system incorporates exterior moisture-resistant applied insulation, engineered furring and perimeter flashings all outboard of the primary building air barrier. “The use of the DBV rainscreen enables the architect to design an interesting 3-D variegated facade on the exterior of the elevations and manage moisture infiltration behind the rainscreen on a true vertical surface,” explains Steve Scharr, director of business development at Metal Sales and Service.
For the panels, Metal Sales and Service used a back-scored technique that v-grooved the 0.125-inch-thick aluminum plate material down to 0.04-thick at the fold lines. According to Scharr, this method allows the designer to incorporate tighter bend lines that increases the crispness of the joints and panel edges. To minimize water penetration between the custom panel endcaps and open horizontal joints, the open vertical reveal joints are gasketed.
“‘Vee grooving’ or milling the bend lines prior to forming enables the bending process to create a tighter radius at the bend lines,” he explains. “Normally bend radius is three times the thickness of material so by reducing the material thickness at the crucial bend line point, the appearance of the bend is tightened from 3/8-inch down to about 3/16-inch or less.”
The 3-D Metalwërks panels clad the building’s west and south facades, while the north and east ends of the L-shaped building feature curtainwalls from Jangho Curtain Wall, Beijing, and glazing from
Xinyi Glass, Dongguan, Guangdong, China. This places the building’s internal trusswork and structure on display, while overlooking the new quad.
Rutgers Business School, Livingston Campus, Piscataway, N.J.
Architect:
TEN Arquitectos, New York City
Associate architect: Richard Bienenfeld Architect, New Rochelle, N.Y.
General contractor: Century 21 Construction, Clifton, N.J.
Construction manager: Structure Tone, Woodbridge, N.J.
Installer:
Mohawk Construction and Supply Co., McMurray, Pa.
Fabricator/metal wall panels: Metalwërks by Metal Sales and Service Inc., Kennett Square, Pa., www.metalwerksusa.com
Architectural glass/aluminum doors: Oldcastle BuildingEnvelope, Santa Monica, Calif., www.oldcastlebe.com
Curtainwall:
Jangho Curtain Wall, Beijing, en.jangho.com
Curtainwall glazing: Xinyi Glass, Dongguan, Guangdong, China, www.xinyiglass.com/en/
Metal roof panels: CENTRIA, Moon Township, Pa., www.centriaperformance.com