Lens Ceiling
Federal Building and Courthouse, Phoenix, Arizona
Building architect: Richard Meier & Partners, New York
Engineer: Ove Arup & Partners, New York
1997-2000

This delicate, suspended cable structure describes a spherical form intersecting a horizontal plane, as if a bubble of air were resting gently on a surface of water.  It forms the ceiling of the Special Proceedings Courtroom of the new Federal Building and US Courthouse in Phoenix, designed by Richard Meier and Partners.  The central “lens” area of the ceiling acts as a diffuser for the artificial light, while the clear perimeter provides views of the sky from the courtroom floor.  The rolled glass pattern has the effect of transforming the “lens” area of the ceiling into a glowing, sparkling surface.

The horizontal beams in the four-story drum frame of the courtroom provide compression rings, making a tension structure extremely efficient, and the structure uses the mass of the glass surface as a stabilizing element.  A complete three-dimensional computer model of the structure was built to assist in the analysis.  Movements within the structure due to changes in temperature are accommodated at each glass panel, and even after an accidental panel breakage nothing can fall because the laminated glass is attached to the structure through a very thick interlayer, normally used in hurricane-prone areas.  It is the understanding of structure that makes it possible to manifest the ephemeral qualities of light in this work.

James Carpenter and Luke Lowings were responsible for design, fabrication and installation of this project while working for JCDA as part of the US Federal Government Art-in-Architecture programme.

The project won the 1998 General Services Administration Award (with Richard Meier), the 1999 Federal Design Award, and it received an Honorable Mention in the 2003 Benedictus Award.