设计师：艾里克•欧文•莫斯（ericowenmoss）
位置：美国 华盛顿
原 名 称：Smithsonian Institution Patent Office Building
Smithsonian Institution， Patent Office Building
Washington， D.C.
"The Patent Office Building， an American cultural treasure and National Historic Landmark..."
The design solution for the enclosure of the Patent Office Building Courtyard offers a remarkable oppurtunity for the Smithsonian Institution， and its chosen architects， to re-confirm the building‘s unique institutional and architectural pedigree - "America‘s temple to the industrial arts" - by adding a dramatic contemporary chapter to the building‘s history.
Fortuitously， the building‘s original purpose - the display of inventor‘s models submitted with patent applications - embodies a spirit of technical and artistic progress that the existing building will share with the newly enclosed courtyard.
"The courtyard addition should support a state-of-the-art museum facility， set a standard for architecture， and signal a commitment to design and innovation，" according to the building program. Eric Owen Moss Architects intends to follow in the American tradition of invention established by Alexander Graham Bell， Thomas Edison， and architects Robert Mills， Thomas Walter and others， that will "distinguish the museum for the next millenium."
FIELD OF RODS
The roof design that encloses the Patent Office Building courtyard is poetically and technically unprecedented: a dense vertical amalgamation of glass and steel rods of varying lengths offers an ever-changing presence of light and sky viewed through a spectacular， seurat-like field of shinning points. Simultaneously the composite structure reaffirms the prominence of the original courtyard experience -- the granite and sandstone walls that form the "great room"， now sharpened and re-focused in a new， reflected light.
The iconic roof is not simply dramatic. In pragmatic terms， the field of rods is both a courtyard enclosing volume， and a versatile， multi-purpose composite that simultaneously provides structural， technical， and staging services for the great room.