4220 Duncan

Architect: HOK
Developer: Wexford Science & Technology
General Contractor: Tarlton
Facade Panel System: Dri-Design
Facade Coating: Sherwin-Williams
Location: St. Louis, MO

The facade of 4220 Duncan is never the same color twice. Aluminum rainscreen panels in a custom polychromatic finish called Rose Dust II shift from warm copper-rose to cool green depending on light and viewing angle. This dynamic skin was intended as a metaphor for the innovative activities of its tenants, including Microsoft and the Cambridge Innovation Center. It stands alongside a Metrolink station in the Cortex Innovation Community, a 200-acre tech and research district developed on a previously underused industrial tract. Behind the iridescent surface is office and lab space over street-level retail, organized around a two-story glass atrium. The exterior was exacting work: 785 panels in 52 sizes, pre-punched off-site and sequenced for installation, hung in roughly two months.