•Project Name: Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University

•Location: Houston, TX

•Featured Brick color: Manganese Ironspot

•Featured Brick Size: Norman

•Project Size: 50,000 sf

•Design Objective: To build a state-of-the art LEED Silver certified, transdisciplinary academic facility dedicated to conveying a sense of openness and possibility through the use of its strong horizontal sightlines, unique elevated positioning and open weave brick pattern. Visitors of Rice University have taken note of this dramatic brick structure with its unconventional brick screen wall, making it a popular stop on the campus tour.

•Project Details: The impressive brick façade of this landmark arts center extends the building’s airy design and bold sightlines to the exterior. Supporting the elevated brick screen wall – the structure’s most notable feature – is a system of stainless steel rods running through the specially cored brick. The brick cladding provides stunning exterior character with dramatic cutouts and articulating patterns made possible by the specially engineered rod system. To accommodate the stainless steel rods, special oversize 1-15/16” coring in the brick was needed without sacrificing load strength, fatigue specifications and other critical performance properties.