Perhaps a Faraday Cage?

August 3, 2008 3:29 PM

Why is this building designed as it is?

This building is located in South Seattle, not far from where I live. I've always assumed it to be an apartment building, but I don't know that for a fact. Assuming it is an apartment building, why is the exterior covered with metal mesh? Again, I've always assumed this is some sort of security feature, either to keep people from falling off the balconies, or to keep intruders out.

It seems weird and creepy to me, and profoundly uninviting. I'm not sure that I've seen other buildings like it.

Perhaps my assumptions are dead wrong, and it houses violent and incorrigible psychopaths or it's some sort of Thunderdome or Rollerball thing...

What is the mesh for? Is this common?

posted by Tube to home & garden (9 comments total)

It might be a design element which adds shading and privacy to a bank of windows. Prada had planned to build a store in San Francisco clad in perforated steel, the design was widely derided as looking like a giant cheese grater.
posted by jamaro at 3:39 PM on August 3, 2008

There are a number of reasons that could apply, but I won't have anything definitive.
1) The mesh is an anit-vandalism measure, meant to stop people from throwing rocks and breaking windows and such. I've seen similar things on some banks, and given the barred door, security seems to be a concern at this building.
2) The mesh is meant to shade the windows.
3) The mesh provides privacy for the occupants.
4) The designers just thought it would look cool, and probably ended up using 1-3 to justify the expense to the owners.
posted by LionIndex at 4:06 PM on August 3, 2008

It doesn't look residential to me, although I don't know what it is. The first thing that came to mind was a detention center, like maybe Juvenile Hall or something. In that case the mesh could be a security feature to protect the window glass from rocks thrown by former "customers", and would also provide some privacy for those inside (maybe I've just watched too much bad TV, but I think you're not allowed to reveal the identity of minors in custody). The barred door adds to the jailhouse look, too.
posted by Quietgal at 4:14 PM on August 3, 2008

Considering the bars on and around the doors (which look added on), coupled with the mesh over the window areas, perhaps this building was built with a more appealing facade in the past, then the neighborhood turned really awful and crime-ridden, and so the mesh and bars appeared -- and never came off again?

That, or it's not an apartment building, but an office building of some kind that contains a lot of expensive equipment (or did at some point in the past.)
posted by davejay at 4:17 PM on August 3, 2008

I'll see your statement of faraday cage, and raise you the proper name: TEMPESTing. Interesting discussion of its use in the book Spycatcher by Peter Wright. That being said, although possible, I vote unlikely for that kind of building.

I know that the Seattle library has what they call aluminium mesh in between the glass panes for the roof, adds heat/glare reduction. This could do the same, though it's a bit weird.
posted by Lemurrhea at 5:19 PM on August 3, 2008

Some office buildings (certainly not apartment buildings) built in the Googie style had screens like these but with a much better sense of scale. Kip's. There are some Bauhaus-looking buildings I have seen in France in which all the rooms would be open to the outside, where they have put window screens on like that. It is a kludge, whether it's an office or an apartment. The only thing worse would be a tall building with mesh like that - it would look like a chain-mail condom.
posted by jet_silver at 5:27 PM on August 3, 2008

You can look at the King County property records for the site and try to figure out what the building is used for: residential, commercial, correctional, etc...
posted by mhum at 7:12 PM on August 3, 2008

Using the link that mhum provided, I was able to determine that the building is indeed an apartment complex, called the Crescent apartments, and also seen on this page.

What a powerful and useful tool!
posted by Tube at 11:01 PM on August 3, 2008

Data point: the light/shade patterns on the metal make me think it's expanded metal which is stronger then perforated metal or wire mesh (i.e.: more likely to stop a rock/brick/flaming school bus).
posted by signal at 7:12 AM on August 4, 2008