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Glass sculpts a college building

Gordon Wright

March 1, 2004

Building Design and Construction

The 61,000-sf Brown Center at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore is more reminiscent of a sculpture than an academic building.

Conceived by local architect Charles Brickbauer in collaboration with Baltimore-based architectural firm Ziger/Snead, Brown Center’s white glass exterior complements the white marble of the college’s 1907 Main Building, while making its own statement. The new building, home to the college’s digital art and design programs, is meant “to stimulate a dialog between contemporary and traditional forms, technologies, and materials,” says Brickbauer.

Joe DiGiacinto, area engineering manager for glazing contractor Harmon Inc., headquartered in Minneapolis, says Brickbauer wanted an absence of metal structure at the corners of the building. The glass panels in corner areas act as gussets.

Baltimore’s Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., the GC on the job, constructed the four-sided, silicone glazed curtain wall system with no visible exterior metal supports.

The glass incorporates a dot frit pattern on the inner surface of the outer lite that covers about 60% of its surface area.

Because of the building’s sloping design, laminated glass is used in about 30% of its glazed area, including the corners.

The patterning of the glass is next to invisible from a distance. However,“Planar facades react strangely and beautifully to changing light conditions,” wrote Washington Post architectural critic Benjamin Forgey.

Brown Center includes a 550-seat auditorium, studio space and lecture rooms.