Glazed facades and a unique folded structural glass ‘veil’ for the International Spy Museum, a new cultural landmark in Washington DC.
ENR MidAtlantic Best Project Award 2019, Best Cultural/Worship
AISC IDEAS² Award 2022, Merit
The new International Spy Museum at L’Enfant Plaza in Washington DC features an iconic facade, which draws its inspiration from espionage and spycraft. Working with Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, Eckersley O’Callaghan has designed a folded structural glass veil, suspended in front of the ‘black box’ exhibition space to add a deceptive visual layer.
To meet the stringent budget, we rationalised the original curved glass design into folded plate glass panels that stand 17 feet high. A lightweight stainless steel structure stitches together the geometric folds, resulting in a thinner build-up of glass and lower costs.
At 140,000 square feet, the new museum building more than doubles the exhibition space for the world’s largest collection of espionage-related artefacts. Facilities include new resources for educational programming, a lecture theatre, and a multifunctional rooftop event space with sweeping views of the city, where we have engineered the glazed facade.
We also designed the facade for the ground floor lobby, which is comprised of an aluminium curtain wall bonded by four-sided structural silicone.
Location
Washington, DC
Client
Spy Museum
Architect
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners |
Hickok Cole Architects
