ALCOA CORPORATE CENTER, Pittsburgh USA 1994 - 1998.

the "serpentine block"

Hovering above, behind the parallel layering of low-linear-sandstone walls is the "serpentine block," the second layer of the building from the water-edge. This layer is a volume, a "solid" aluminum boulder, a glistening metallic monolith. It is scaleless (non-building like, ambiguous scale), mute (does not seek to symbolize anything), and directionless (compositionaly "reversible" -- without top, bottom, or sides, front or back; equally capable to be tilted up, rotated around, turned over etc.).
Deposited ashore on the bank of this riverfront, this mysterious block hovers above the rusticated walls of the waterfront park and garage, and the curvaceous metal and glass entrance lobby/conference center.

Although massive and somewhat out-sized this floating monolith is, at the same time, sensuous and intricate. This enigmatic serpentine is thoroughly fragile and transparent. This precisely abstracted boulder is a sensitive, "intelligent" enviromental container housing an efficient, flexible workplace.

Wrapping this volume . . . (continued . . .)

©1996, 1997 Agus Rusli / Rusli Associates

• the Serpentine Block :
          a "solid" aluminum boulder: scaleless, mute, and mysterious
          -- and yet fragile, transparent, and enviromentally sensible.

description continued :

• . . . the checker skin-wrap
• . . . non-hierarchical skin
• . . . linear volumes/extruded zones
• . . . skyline-silhouette

• . . . building description

in-progress construction photos

• . . . metamorphoses : the aluminum boulder, the checker skin-wrap

. . . site/ building organization -- text: linear volumes, extruded zones

. . . curtainwall/ drawing-list -- text: non-hierarchical skin

7 . . . S-office loft, perimeter core

. . . atrium, core-building

. . . floor plan, section

. . . excerpt at front-page; or go to building description

. . . ALCOA contents-page