Designed by the Boston studio Machado & Silvetti, the Global Center for Academic and Spiritual Life is a complex in the New York University campus, harboring its numerous religious associations. Not being linked to a specific creed, the symbolic expression of the building’s religious character has been entrusted to the enclosure’s ornamentation, inspired by the branches of the ‘Tree of Life’, an image common to many religions.

The envelope has been completed with a cladding of laminated quartzite panels, barely 25 millimeters thick, formed by two layers tightly adhered to one another. This solution preserves the original material’s features (tone and streaks), but giving it a high mechanical resistance that cannot be attained through conventional means. Thanks to the laminate the quartzite pieces can be pierced with different drawings and windows to afford light and views. Transformed into industrialized panels, the pieces are fixed to the steel frames with a curtain wall system, which separates them ten centimeters from the interior sheet, creating a rear ventilated cavity that improves the enclosure’s thermal behavior.