In 2005, EXTECH delivered a custom operable facade system for the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. The multi-surface installation introduced movement, light, and atmosphere to the building’s exterior, setting the tone for a new kind of interactive architecture. The concept began with a bold idea: a building that could react to its surroundings and make air currents visible.
Artist Ned Kahn, working with Koning/Eizenberg Architecture, envisioned a facade composed of thousands of components that would move in response to the wind. EXTECH engineered a custom system to realize that vision. The design included more than 39,000 flappers made from a durable acrylic resin, each mounted with Teflon bushings onto half-inch stainless steel rods. These were fitted into an aluminum space frame, which EXTECH also designed, fabricated, and installed.
The result is a facade of small, translucent flappers that shift with every breeze, revealing the shape and motion of air as it passes across the surface. The wall becomes a kinetic display that is both visually striking and educational, reminding visitors of the constant movement in the environment around them.
By day, the flappers ripple and catch the light. At night, the surface glows from behind, creating an illuminated, ever-changing feature. Two decades later, the installation remains a landmark of EXTECH’s ability to translate creative vision into engineered performance. It also served as the foundation for what would become the KINETICWALL system, now a registered trademark and a defining part of EXTECH’s architectural offerings.
