Client DZ Bank Architect Frank O. Gehry, Gehry Partners, LLP Location Berlin, Germany Date 1996-2001 Medium Slumped and fused borosilicate glass Dimensions 34 elements, 2000 square feet overall
		The PP3 Chandelier is located in the central atrium of DZ Bank's new headquarters, designed by Frank O. Gehry, on historic Pariser Platz in Berlin adjacent to the Brandenburg Gate. An airborne constellation of 34 glass panels suspended on very thin cables, the installation covers more than 2000 square feet and weighs 2.5 tons. Commissioned to enhance a glass-covered open space, it responds to the Conference Hall placed in the vast atrium above and to the precise engineering of the glass ceiling from which it hangs. With dynamic gestures both in elevation and plan, the design incorporates negative space to allow unobstructed views of the atrium rising above. With no internal lighting, the chandelier was designed to catch and disperse the natural light of the atrium during the day and filter the artificial light provided by ceiling fixtures in the evening. A principal challenge was to develop glass sculpture at a scale that could interact with the architecture of Gehry's Conference Hall while projecting a sense of contrasting lightness. The energy of the building's architecture is focused in the Conference Hall, a form that anchors the central atrium with its powerful, brooding presence. The ephemeral response in glass took the form of luminous elements gathering to swim through the space and up toward the entrance of the Conference Hall. The project was driven by an interdependence between artistic concept and technological innovation. In an effort to find alternatives with greater visual complexity and nuance than traditional warped glass, the Studio and its consultants developed a unique glass matrix that is both strong and light. Each of the PP3 Chandelier's panels is a teardrop-shaped raft of long, hollow borosilicate glass tubes that are fused together and then slumped over a mold. Up to 3 meters in length, the panels are comprised of custom manufactured tubes ranging from 25-95 mm in diameter, yielding a striated pattern when viewed from beneath, with a cellular cross-section. This new matrix addresses conventional issues of safety and weight associated with glass by adapting to meet the needs of the design with an unconventional solution. The difference in tube diameters makes the sculpture not only more visually interesting, but more structurally sound from an engineering standpoint, with the additional benefit of mimicking the properties of traditional safety glass by arresting crack growth without requiring tempering or lamination. The Studio worked closely with Gehry Partners and with a diverse project team, willing to cross typical professional boundaries, to make these technological advances possible. A glass engineer who had helped design the windows for NASA's Space Shuttle developed a method to quantify the properties of this glass construction that had never been suspended as a sculptural medium. A physicist who models random processes for financial markets built a computer program that simulates crystal growth to efficiently generate the design of each panel's complex structural matrix. As the panels are of significant scale and each one a unique shape, a glass toolmaker helped to develop a kiln with an automated floor that can warp to each preprogrammed form, eliminating costly molds. While many of these innovations were driven by technical concerns, their solutions deeply influenced the design of the chandelier.