The REACH

The REACH – completed in 2020 – is an extension to the JF Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington DC, close to the White House and the Washington Monument.

The REACH is comprised of three pavilions built to provide new event and catering spaces. The buildings feature curved edges with hard angles and flat or sloping roofs. At the centre of the area, the Skylight Pavilion emerges from the landscape, featuring a large wall of concrete designed as an area for open-air film projections. At the lowest part of the grass hill, the River Pavilion, which accommodates interactive spaces for smaller performances, features a 12m glass front.

Brand: Permasteelisa North America, Gartner

Architect: Steven Holl Architects

Executive architect: BNIM Architects, Kansas City

Client and contractor: The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company

Owner: Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

The project

The concept

The surface of the titanium-white concrete pavilions appears almost seamless from a distance, but a closer look reveals the size and structure of the formwork panels. For the pavilions’ glass façades, a range of special glass types and finishing techniques were used, depending on the desired properties.

What did we do?

Our team designed, engineered, manufactured and installed an overall façade area of 1,550 sqm. This included 18 different façade types – 12 flat façades, one three-dimensional curved façade, four skylights, an all-glass sliding door featuring six units, three single doors, and four double doors. Construction and installation were particularly challenging due to the design of the concrete structures, the length of the façades, and the spans of the concrete parts.