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So what's with the big black wall on the building's south side?"Lots of people have their own interpretations," says Howard Burton, executive director of the Perimeter Institute.
Among the interpretations:
a) It is unfinished.
b) It has a practical purpose.
c) The architects like black.
d) It represents different points of debate within science.
e) It was inspired by a testing chamber at Research In Motion.
"It's an interesting question," says architect Andre Perrotte.
His answer? Basically, if you're puzzled by the black wall, you should be.
"We wanted to create a little bit on the public the feeling that we don't understand science," Perrotte says.
"There's always something in science that needs to be interpreted by researchers."
Think of it as a giant blackboard, opaque to represent what's unknown about science, and textured to represent mysterious mathematical equations inside the building.
"We were amazed how much these researchers, they work with things that you and I don't understand," Perrotte says. "But they do it with chalk and blackboards."
Perrotte says there is an order to the way panels and windows extrude from the black wall, but the order is not meant to be evident.
"It's a bit like science," he says. "You and I know there is an order or a reason behind things, but we don't need to know it sometimes to use it."
For practical purposes, the wall also provides a screen for the private, contemplative north side of the building.
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posted 03 October 2004 12:54 PM
