Unusual Materials In IIT Student Center

Koolhaas Encounters Mies, Building Design & Construction, 12.03, reports on the new McCormick Tribune Campus Center at Illinois Institute of Technology, by Rem Koolhaus's Office for Metropolitan Architecture.

This project uses a variety of unusual finish materials, including for example:

• 1/8 inch aluminum plate flooring (grounded for electrical safety)
• Ceilings of green water-resistant GWB coated with clear polyurethane
• Mechanical penthouse louvers made from plastic grating normally used for chemically resistant laboratory floors
• Glazing composite made from orange polycabonate infill bonded within exterior glass units
• Toilet room enclosures made of glass facing and tubular polycarbonate core material with a variable translucency depending upon the angle of view

For more on the design of the McCormick Tribune Campus Center see also ABC's of Mies + IIT, Metropolis Magazine, February 2004.