Corona Panel Designed For Nmaahc (Type E: 85% Opacity)

An openwork cast aluminum panel of the type used to fabricate the cladding that covers the exterior of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, located on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The panel's bronze color is the final finish, a Custom Artisan 3.5 in a 5-coat Kynar system, a costum Valspare mixture used for each layer of the 5-coats, and is the same as the color of the panels installed on the NMAAHC building. Panels with varying levels of opacity are used on each side of the building, to regulate the amount of light that enters the building. This panel is the Type E design, with an opacity or density of 85% (15% open). This panel was fabricated at the same time as the panels installed on the building. The tooling for the Corona panels was made at Peerless Pattern Works in Portland, Oregon. The panels were cast at Morel Industries in Portland, Oregon. After painting, the panels were sent to Cleveland, Ohio to Northstar Contracting for assembly onto carrier frames prior to installation on site. The panel sometimes is referred to as a 'corona panel,' because these panels encapsulate the stacked upper levels of the building's design, referred to as the 'corona' levels by the architects. The stacked shape of the building itself was designed to relfect the stacked top portions of Yoruba carved wood columns by Olowe of Ise found on traditional buildings in Nigeria. This top portion is known as a 'capital' in architectural vocabulary, and the architects also use the words 'crown' and 'corona' to refer to the design inspiration they gained from this top portion of Yoruba column. Artist Peerless Pattern Works, Morel Industries, Dura Industries, Northstar Contracting. (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)