The Stephen A. Levin Neural & Behavioral Sciences Building at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) has won a host of design and construction awards. Designed by the Smith Group architects in Washington, D.C., the brief was to combine the life sciences programs at UPenn into one state of the art facility.

The result was a six-story, $68.6-million, 78,000-square-foot building that consolidated the biology, psychology and behavioral sciences under one roof. The functional exterior design also ensured a controlled environment for the laboratories through inclusion of a glass and aluminum sunscreen that filters soft, yet expansive light throughout the day.

Sven Shockey, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, design director at the Smith Group said that the sunscreen helped temper the light, reduce solar gain and therefore, heating loads, while greatly reducing glare: “We experimented with different form factors and found that a planar sunshade can significantly reduce solar gain, but allow expansive views out”.

The Stephan A. Levin Building presented a new and highly visible public façade for UPenn that highlighted the University’s commitment to the sciences and research. The façade panels chosen for the exterior were Fairview’s Vitrabond MCM. The Vitrabond panels were perfect for achieving the unique design features whilst still complementing the other university buildings. The exterior is made up of 20,000sf of panels in “Aria White”, 8,000sf of “Nordic Green Pre-Patina Copper” panels and 1,400sf “Cannon Grey panels”.

Vitrabond façade cladding is a popular choice for infrastructure projects such as education facilities as it is cost-effective, easy-to-install and fabricate and comes in a range of attractive finishes as well as being fully customizable as was the case for this project.