Virginia Tech has a three-stage plan for its all-electric Northern Virginia Campus in Alexandria, which sits on the banks of the Potomac River. SmithGroup designed Academic Building One for the first phase of the forthcoming campus. The building’s pyramidal massing is the symbiotic result of computational tools and design experience. On each face, terra-cotta and aluminum fins line photovoltaic glazing in custom combinations that were specifically spaced to provide passive shading while maintaining maximum solar yield.
The site of Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Campus, and the eventual mixed-use development which will anchor it, was destined to be all-electric. 
“There was a fundamental question about how the massing should support the application of a facade based photovoltaic system,” Sven Shockey, national design director at SmithGroup, told AN. Traditionally photovoltaics are placed on the roof, but zoning restrictions necessitated a different approach. An in-house computational design tool iterated 1,400 unique potential envelopes, which would result in the necessary solar yield to power the building.
“[We discerned that] a small number of well-oriented facets were most effective for the design. The rest of the massing was sculpted by programmatic requirements, urban design considerations, and experiential elements,” Shockey told AN. Per these solar studies, Academic Building One’s design is heliomorphic—its profile is molded by the motion of the sun and the paths of its rays.
Three different facets emerged as a result. South faces, which receive the most sun, were clad with a horizontal grid of photovoltaic panels intersected by aluminum fins that conceal conduits. The fins were painted to match the color of the terra-cotta installed on other faces. Both elements provide passive shading. From the interior of Academic Building One, none of the wiring attached to the building’s extensive photovoltaic systems is visible. 
“We had a lot of meetings to determine the right way to path the electrical system and unitize it with the rest of the curtain wall,” said Ryan Asava, principal and building technology specialist at SmithGroup.
Where the angle of the sun is less extreme, terra-cotta fins were paired with different types of glass, including PV-integrated vision glass, PV-integrated spandrel glass, spandrel glass, or vision glass. On the east and west facades where there is a need for shading the protrusion of the terra-cotta fins is more dramatic. The warm gradient of the fins was chosen to complement the cool, hard profile of the glass.
“There were a lot of additional technical considerations once we landed on the basic shape of the geometry and the understanding of projecting elements,” Patty Boyle, director of architecture at SmithGroup, told AN. These considerations included building maintenance and dealing with snow.
Most facets of the facade have typical tie off points, but others sport cleverly concealed davits to allow for maintenance. A catwalk projects around the perimeter. The depth of the fins was reduced to account for snow and ice, and heat-trace systems were implemented in areas where icicles could pose a risk.
The building’s emphatic geometry calls to mind an abstracted sundial. Such eminent forms would appear harsh if not softened by the warm terra-cotta fins, blending together as the observer traverses the exterior. Throughout the day, as the light changes and the shadows lengthen, they almost appear to waver.

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