Overture Center for the Arts: Primary Lobby Façade

Novum was contracted to engineer, furnish and install the massive entrance lobby curtain wall for the Overture Center for the Performing Arts. To achieve maximum transparency, huge 17 ft. wide by 9 ft. tall annealed glass panels weighing 2,000 pounds each were incorporated into the design. Because the curtain wall hangs from the roof, Novum devised a plan to stack concrete weights on the roof that equaled the final structural load. Working horizontally in rows from top to bottom, Novum installed four glass panels at a time and then removed the equivalent weight from the roof to maintain a consistent load and prevent breakage. The completed lobby is one of the center’s most extraordinary features.

Location: Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Size: 18,850 sq ft / 1,750 sq m

Systems Used: AES, LSG

Architect: Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects