The 2023 AIA Convention’s Host Celebrates Urban Iconoclasm and Innovation

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This June, the AIA award-winning Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco will house the American Institute of Architects Conference on Architecture, where more than 14,000 architects nationwide will gather to define, design, and connect on the future of the industry. In 2019 the city’s largest venue was reimagined by Skidmore Owings Merrill and Mark Cavagnero Associates, transforming the once dark and disjointed center into a modern, light-filled series of buildings that seamlessly integrate into the surrounding cityscape. The exterior features a striking, state-of-the-art façade that combines urban iconoclasm with innovation, setting a new standard for building façade systems and creating the perfect backdrop for one of the largest and most influential architectural events of the year.

Photo © Brian Ashby, click to enlarge.

To achieve the Moscone Center’s iconic exterior, Skidmore Owings Merrill and Mark Cavagnero Associates tapped metal innovators BŌK Modern and their Enfold Façade division of specialists. Backed by a qualified team of architects and engineers, BŌK Modern had the unparalleled capability to support the design team’s ambitious goal of a lightweight, three-dimensional façade, while drastically reducing cost.

Photo © Matthew Millman

Positioned on Howard Street’s famous intersection in the Yerba Buena district—home to 20 percent of the 16.9 million visitors to San Francisco—the Moscone Center spotlights a notable composition of staggered aluminum panels designed with a custom diamond-pattern gradient and white kynar finish, elevating the structure’s 3D dimensionality from the various viewpoints across the city. To achieve this sense of depth, BŌK Modern developed an original screening system leveraging the unique geometric pattern Skidmore Owings Merrill designed—casting shadows that create a three-dimensional illusion on the flat surfaced panels.

Photo © Brian Ashby

In order to support the dimension of the design, BŌK Modern’s Enfold Façade division invented a vertical running bond across the building façade panels so that respective folds became a splice for neighboring panel breaks. With this self-reinforcing, three-story-tall screening system, the collective weight of the panels hang from a single row of structure at the roof: pinned-out from the building for lateral support only. Laser-cut to an extensive scale, the panels’ integral canvas showcase transparency and elegance through a seemingly floating scrim.

Photo © Brian Ashby

What began as an elegant and economical alternative solution at the Moscone Convention Center evolved to become BŌK’s Structural Integrated Metal Panel Systems (SIMPS ™), now a modified and developed solution for sunshades, wall screens, canopies, rainscreens, fencing, and more. An innovative and efficient way of merging a building’s skin and structure to be one in the same, BŌK’s passion to solve complex problems through simplified solutions results in a new kind of engineering ingenuity.

To date, the improved Moscone Center creates less carbon emissions per visitor than any major convention center in North America-- winning the 2020 AIA Architecture Citation Award. It saves more than five million gallons of water annually and generates clean energy with the largest rooftop solar installation in San Francisco. With sustainability integral to the design, such as the sun shading benefit of the scrim, the center now seeks a LEED® Platinum certification.

A result of strategic collaboration between Skidmore Owings Merrill, Mark Cavagnero Associates, and BŌK Modern, the façade solution achieved on the Convention Center’s exterior inspired more design freedom, sparing the previous need for major structural support and significantly reducing the façade screens’ project budget while setting a new standard for the advancement of façade designs.

Reach out to BOK Modern for your next project: https://bokmodern.com/

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Author: Heddie Chu, Co-Founder of BŌK Modern
Heddie Chu is the co-founder of BŌK Modern, a leader in architectural metals and facades with cutting-edge, enduring product solutions. BŌK Modern prides themselves on tenured expertise, nuanced perspectives, and pushing boundaries to drive their innovative process.