Sherman Center: weather-tight by December
Installation of the exterior curtain wall system started in June
By Michael Cohen and Bryan Goodchild July 14, 2011
UMass Medical School Communications
Installation of the outer wall system for the Albert Sherman Center (ASC) is underway. Known as a curtain wall system, the exterior of the building will be covered by 1,775 prefabricated panels made of glass, aluminum, terra cotta and granite.
The first panel was placed June 22 on the north side of the fourth floor of the ASC. In this video, Brian O’Connell, senior project manager for Enclos Corp., the fabricator of the curtain wall, and Kurt Victor, assistant project manager at Suffolk Construction, describe the installation process.
Work began on the fourth floor, where the 20-foot-long panels need to be placed on the building with a crane because they do not fit in the temporary elevators, known as hoists, that are now attached to the ASC. For most of the remaining floors, however, the curtain wall panels are small enough to fit in the hoists. They will be loaded onto the floors and installed from within the building. (Click here to see an animated demonstration of the interior installation process.) http://www.enclos.com/library-page/field_method_installation/
Panels on most of the east and west sides of the building will include windows framed by light-brown tiles of terra cotta. On the north side of the building, the façade is mostly glass, with long windows designed to allow in as much natural light as possible. On the south side of the building, the curtain wall will include a system of sun shades that look like small louvers extending perpendicular to the glass, to help limit solar heat gain.
In many areas, above or below the clear glass windows, the curtain wall includes sections of glass with a shadow-box design. Those elements add color to the façade, and are used to cover the structural elements of the building like the steel beams that support the floors. On the lower three floors of the building the panels will be made of granite, both for the aesthetics and durability.
Related links on UMassMedNow:
Town hall meeting updates Sherman Center progress
Topping off the Albert Sherman Center
A preview of coming Sherman Center attachments