WE DON”T HAVE MONEY TO BUILD ANYTHING@!!!!!
Set on a site of almost five acres on the south side of the Thames River, the new structure will be positioned on an angle to the surrounding streets. A semicircular pond will function as a protective moat along the Thames side, while a spiraling landscape to the south sets the building away from potential car or truck bombs. A complex envelope of blast-resistant glass and a polymer skin (known as ETFE) will provide both security and energy efficiency while shading the building on its sun-exposed sides.
“I have to be careful in talking about specific security requirements of this particular building,” Timberlake said. “But the glass skin is quite robust.”
It also helps the building, which is estimated to cost about $500 million, put a transparent face to the city and maximizes natural light for workers inside. Photovoltaics in the building’s skin and on its roof will generate electricity.
Design drawings show a cube that shimmers and dissolves in muted rhythms both vertically and horizontally. The spiraling landscape continues as a motif inside the building, culminating in the “ever more focused, secure and enclosed center atop the structure.”