This Issue
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 | Watch the Curtain Wall Rise
The steel skeleton of the north building is complete in our future headquarters at 500 Fifth Avenue North. In early November, crews began attaching the exterior "skin," called a curtain wall, to those steel bones.
By late January 2010, you’ll see a fully clad building with walls of glass and limestone. Speeding up the work with prefabricated panels
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Be prepared for a remarkably swift transformation from a bulky steel frame to a graceful, window-filled facade.
Prefabricated panels—10 feet wide and one story tall—combine layers of stone cladding, window framing, glass, and insulation into a single unit.
It takes a team of crane operators, riggers, ironworkers, and glaziers just one hour to hang a panel and secure it in place.
Crews will install the north building's curtain wall of nearly 800 panels one floor at a time, circling the six-story building about every two weeks.
Crews will move on to the south building when its steel skeleton is complete later this year. |
Preassembly saves time and material
Standardizing the construction of the panels at the factory has immediate benefits. Prefabrication lets us:
- Build faster—a win for patient neighbors, employees now spread out over five different buildings, and the budget
- Reduce waste—both at the offsite assembly plant (from economies of scale) and at our construction site (no scrap disposal needed)
- Keep quality high—essential for energy-efficient window walls
The beauty and benefits of window walls
The new campus will be the foundation’s home for the long term, so quality materials, sustainability, and a pleasant work environment have been important factors guiding its development.
The Gates family wanted to create an eco-friendly workplace with lots of windows. By installing floor-to-ceiling window walls of lightly tinted glass, we honor:
- A belief that natural daylight is good for employee health and well-being
- The concept that views—both in and out—can refresh, inspire, and connect people
- A commitment to reduce energy use to 25 percent below code specifications
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| Get the Big Picture Online
Curious to see what our new campus will look like when it opens in the spring of 2011? Or what Phase Two will look like when a third building completes the project?
On our newly updated web site you can find lots of images of our new campus, including computer renderings, artist illustrations, and other artwork showing aerial views, street-level views, interiors, and landscaping.
You can also learn more about the architect’s design concept, the campus’ sustainable features, and the future visitor center. |
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Why We Are Impatient Optimists
| Bill and Melinda Gates were in Washington, D.C., on October 27 to explain why they are "impatient optimists" and why you can be, too.
Their presentation at Sidney Harman Hall—witnessed by thousands of people around the world via a live webcast—focused on statistics and stories that are not publicly well-known, but demonstrate the many and diverse ways U.S. investments in global health are improving lives around the world. Watch a video of their presentation on our web site. |
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 | The Living Proof Project
Bill and Melinda’s presentation is part of a larger foundation venture called the Living Proof Project, a multimedia initiative intended to highlight the successes of U.S.-funded global health efforts. Our hope is that by reporting global health success stories back to the American taxpayers and representatives who funded them, we can reframe the current global health conversation. Millions of lives have already been transformed with effective, affordable solutions, and our nation has the knowledge, innovative technologies, and proven tools to do much more.
Learn more by visiting the Living Proof Project web site where you can find:
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| Keeping Up with Construction
Interested in more details about upcoming construction work? To stay up to speed and receive updates, visit the web site of Sellen, the project's general contractor.
Sellen's weekly bulletins help our future neighbors know what to expect and when to plan for changes around the project site, including street closures. |
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