The process of manufacturing and assembling the east wall (at left) is highlighted by the adjacent wall panels (at right), which display the tooling paths for each MDF piece used in the east wall's fabrication.
A section of the east wall bows into the slide library to direct light from the room's skylight into the adjacent hallway.
Light from the surrounding hallways flows through the incised tooling paths on the north, south, and west walls, creating a luminescent quality when diffused by the linoleum surface laminated onto the MDF sheets.
The room houses thousands of drawers for storing projection slides and a table for researchers to examine and collect what they need.
MILLING PATH FOR WALL COMPONENTS In order to conserve materials and provide an exercise in efficient tooling at the fabrication lab, all of the MDF pieces for the east wall were arranged on sheets so that only 82 were used for the final product.
PERSPECTIVE VIEW A rendering shows the integration of the undulated east wall and the incised panels on the other three walls, as well as the path of natural light through the skylight (indicated with hatched lines).
The east wall's undulated form creates small openings where it is possible to look between the slide library and hallway.
East Wall Assembly Students from Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation assembled the east wall by threading each numbered piece of MDF and glass onto a series of supporting rods.
Threaded Rod System for East Wall Assembly The threaded rod system consists of 18-inch-long threaded rods connected with threaded couplings. Top and bottom tracks keep the pieces in place, and compression from the rods keeps the glass sheets in place with no adhesive.
