Harvard University Science and Engineering Complex
The Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) on the Allston Campus is the largest new building at Harvard University in recent decades. It accommodates various fields of engineering sciences on a floor space of around 50,000 sqm (538.200 sq ft).
The Harvard University Science and Engineering Complex has been clad with highly efficient steel and aluminum façades which are nested within each other.
The solar heat input is regulated by geometrically optimized shading with special stainless steel sheets, while light screens direct the daylight into the interior rooms. Highly transparent glass ribbons in the plinth connect the building with the public realm. The entrance façades extend over two stories and structure the building complex. On the terraced south side, garden façades open the complex towards the park.
Design and engineering, manufacturing, and installation of unitized aluminium facade system, steel stick system with rectangular hollow profiles or welded beams, 16,000 deep-drawn, 3D laser-cut stainless steel sheets utilized as shading devices on a prestressed tension rod system in front of the glass facade, atrium glass facade, 2,000 shading devices, 2,500 sqm (26,910 sq ft) sheet cladding, 470 openable windows.
As one of the most energy-efficient laboratory buildings with LEED Platinum certification, the SEC façade achieves a heat transfer coefficient of less than 0.9 W/sqmK. 3,000 sqm (32,292 sq ft) atrium façades are suspended from above using a steel tension rod system, the 1,60 m (5.24 ft) wide and up to 25,50 m (83.7 ft) long shading panels consist of 5 mm (0,01 ft) thick perforated stainless steel sheets, atrium façades with a steel tension rod system with horizontal shading panels. For natural ventilation, 480 windows have been integrated into the façades, of which 60 are motorized and 420 are to be opened by hand crank, 52 motorized louver windows, entrance façades cover a total area of 1,000 sqm (10.764 sq ft) stick-system steel façade.
2021 Completion
1,100 sqm of stick system
2,000 shading devices
16,000 deep-drawn, 3D laser-cut stainless steel sheets
480 openable windows
LEED Platinum®
ARCHITECT: Behnisch Architekten
OWNERS: Harvard Planning & Project Management (HPPM), President and Fellows of Harvard College
Get in contact with us to know more about the project