KNOW YOUR PRODUCTS
MIGRATING TO METAL Behrooz has witnessed a considerable shift to more metal projects in both the industry and at his firm. “I’m using much more metal in my buildings as a replacement for wood,” he says. “I find wood problematic for many reasons, not just because we are depleting our wood resources. Wood is problematic as a material over time and becomes an absorber of mois- ture and humidity. So I have decided to let go of the use of wood as much as I can, and now use it as an interior finish material.” Behrooz believes a wooden house has some
inherent energy issues that need to be resolved. Wooden houses require further repair, modifica- tions and maintenance, which is not efficient. Using steel in that sense is an inspiration. “It’s not just about metal,” he insists. “It’s about looking at alternative materials and being open to other materials than wood, and once you do that you realize metal is one of the most out- standing structural elements that I love to use. Structurally, it gives me the ability to create can- tilevers very easily. Making a steel frame is easy to do with far less deflection. Metal gives us a wider palette with more choices and options.” One metal-based project that brought
Behrooz national attention, in addition to a Metal Construction News award for Best Metal Roofing in its Annual Building and Roofing Awards, is his Arc House in East Hampton, N.Y. Fashioned after a Quonset Hut, this custom-de- signed home has an arching corrugated metal roof with no weight-bearing columns. Both post-consumer and post-industrial recycled steel help provide its clear span design.
COOL CONTAINER CONCEPT One unique Behrooz project in progress is an all-steel system consisting of prefabricated shipping container pods retrofitted with com- puter work stations for a nonprofit New Orleans organization. These pods will be installed in
various low-income neighborhoods for youths to have access to computers when they nor- mally do not. This educational facility will be connected to the New Orleans public library system and is supported by them. “These shipping containers are very secure,”
he says. “Over these containers we have a very elaborate and beautiful canopy system because New Orleans is obviously a very hot and humid environment. We want to create as much shade as we can. The canopies are made of steel C-channels. They are curved and have loops. Between the loops is steel wiring and cable that become a surface for plants to grow and eventu- ally cover the roof system to create shade. These projects will be installed all over New Orleans. We hope other cities will follow the model and we can introduce them to other places.” Behrooz is working with a manufacturer who
is introducing a line of shipping container-de- signed buildings. The manufacturer buys shipping containers from different yards, brings them into its factory and retrofits them to Behrooz’s specifi- cations to create a prefabricated module. “I think that is my biggest metal-related
success as an architect. Being open to metal has brought other opportunities in,” he says. “My New Orleans project only happened because I had already worked with metal. Otherwise, our clients would not have called us. They contacted us because they had seen and heard about my work with metal and shipping containers. “Once you’re open to this, other opportu-
nities open up. The building market is seeing increasing use of metal and when you have experience with metal it opens you up to new opportunities. One inspiration for working with metal is that AIA has a mandate for all archi- tects to reduce energy usage of buildings by 50 percent by the year 2030. This is a big man- date. We have to be careful about the ways we have traditionally thought about buildings, the materials we use and how to design.”
Arch music of our office.
What do you do on weekends? Traveling outdoors, hiking, going to beautiful
beaches, website design too.
What is your favorite book? It changes. Different books at different times in
my life have affected me. “Cradle to Cradle” by William McDonough definitely stands out.
What’s your favorite app on your
phone or iPad? Squarespace. I can use it to access and update my website. I check what it’s doing, add photos and manage comments.
Where is your favorite place to
vacation? New Orleans. It has great music, food and architecture.
What historical figure would you most like to have dinner with and
why? I’d like to have dinner with Frank Lloyd Wright.
Maziar Behrooz Connect
What’s on your iPod while you work? Online sites that I log into, which is the background
LEFT AND INSET: The Container Art Studio in Amagansett, N.Y., is made of two 40-foot-long shipping containers sitting over a concrete foundation. The studio is open and receives a great deal of natural light due to large windows and the double- height portion of the space.
RIGHT: The Arc House in East Hampton, N.Y. brought Behrooz national attention, in addition to a Metal Construction News award for Best Metal Roofing in its Annual Building and Roofing Awards. Fashioned after a Quonset Hut, this custom-designed home has an arching corrugated metal roof with no weight- bearing columns.
www.metalarchitecture.com November 2012 METAL ARCHITECTURE 33
Photos courtesy of Maziar Behrooz Architecture
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