The seven-story addition to University of Pittsburgh’s Alan Magee Scaife Hall houses updated lecture halls, labs and classrooms. It also includes team-based learning and small group rooms as well as an entire floor dedicated to medical students. Intended as both an academic building and social hub, Scaife Hall combines several design features that create a sense of openness, including the fire-rated glazing systems along the building’s monumental stairwell. Used in tandem, Technical Glass Products’ (TGP) Fireframes ClearView® System and Fireframes® Heat Barrier Series Doors defend against fire, smoke and heat transfer. The Fireframes ClearView System joins pieces of Pilkington Pyrostop®, low-iron, fire-rated and impact safety-rated glass with nearly colorless butt-glazed joints. This eliminates the need for vertical mullions within TGP’s Fireframes Heat Barrier perimeter frames, maximizing the amount of glazing possible. Likewise, the Fireframes Heat Barrier doors offer precise edges and the narrowest sightlines available with a fire rating—which contributes to the hall’s open design and provides a close visual match to adjacent non-rated assemblies. Together, these two fire-rated systems allowed the designers to plan a code-compliant stairwell without compromising the aesthetic vision of openness and access to daylight.
Project:
Alan Magee Scaife Hall
Location:
Pittsburgh, PA
Architect:
MCF Architecture, Payette
