Project Details
ArchitectLeddy Maytum Stacy ArchitectsFabricatorLee’s Imperial WeldingApplicationsRailingLocationBerkeley, CA, USUC Berkeley, Jacobs Hall
Related Products
The brand new Jacobs Hall at the University of California, Berkeley houses the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation in the College of Engineering. The three-story, 24,000 square foot building contains design studios, various laboratories, a student lounge, classrooms, and cutting edge technology to immerse students in hands-on, human centered design.
Just as Jacobs Hall fulfills a variety of purposes, so too with the architectural wire chosen as strong infill material for the exterior railings: Banker Wire’s M13Z-145.
Outside of Jacobs Hall, Banker Wire’s M13Z-145 architectural woven wire mesh was utilized in the exterior railing and bridge fabricated by Lee’s Imperial Welding of Fremont, California. M13Z-145 architectural mesh is a large-scale, three-wire, rigid cable pattern modeled after traditional European designs. The wide aspect ratio and long, vertical three-wire bundle of the wire mesh creates the appearance of continuous lines along the length of the railing, clearly differentiating the vertical wires from the horizontal wires. It boasts strength first and foremost, but is also available in endless variations and finishes. For this project, Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects specified a stainless steel finish for Jacobs Hall because of its striking appearance and proven durability.
"We are very happy with Banker Wire’s material — in regard to both looks and performance. It is robust enough for a structurally-sound, high-traffic railing infill, but also semi-transparent to satisfy an elegant design. Banker provided a lot of good options to find just the right pattern to achieve this." says Ryan Jang, Senior Associate of Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects.
The wire mesh was produced so that the M13Z-145 pattern paralleled the flats and slopes of the staircases and bridge of Jacobs Hall. Not only aesthetically pleasing in this unique configuration, the wire mesh acts as subtle guide for pedestrians and helps to physically connect Jacobs Hall with both Soda Hall and Etcheverry Hall.
