Ross Barney Architects has completed a new building for NASA’s deep-space technology and communication in Cleveland, USA. The Aerospace Communications Facility consolidates seven previously dispersed research sites into a single LEED Gold-certified hub. It was designed to support the now famous Artemis mission, which landed the first woman and first person of colour on the moon. The 54,000-square-foot facility houses laboratories, collaboration spaces, anechoic test chambers, RF-shielded laboratories, IT support areas and a dedicated rooftop platform for communication antennas.
“The opportunity to design a new facility from the ground up was both exciting and rare for the center, where researchers have become accustomed to adapting numerous oversized and outdated Cold War-era buildings to their needs. The scale and uniqueness of this project made it all the more critical to develop a design that would be useful long into the future, invested with built-in future flexibility.”
“The opportunity to design a new facility from the ground up was both exciting and rare for the center, where researchers have become accustomed to adapting numerous oversized and outdated Cold War-era buildings to their needs. The scale and uniqueness of this project made it all the more critical to develop a design that would be useful long into the future, invested with built-in future flexibility.”
Program and site organisation
Externally, the building appears as three distinct volumes. A precast concrete block houses the antenna testing range, a two storey glass lobby, and a dark blue corrugated steel volume accommodates research spaces. The antenna testing range was the design’s focus and starting point: it had to accommodate a dish ten meters in diameter while also being shielded from electromagnetic interference. To achieve this, the architects used precast concrete with conductive aggregate that turns the structure itself into a Faraday cage.
The exterior of the precast section is inscribed with equations by Dr. Robert Romanofsky, a NASA scientist celebrated for his pioneering work in space communications. This graphic treatment wraps into the lobby, where the loading space—in which antenna dishes enter the building via a monumental glass door—is visible.
Façade design and orientation
Research labs and collaborative spaces occupy the third volume, which has been organised to optimise both daylighting and views over a nearby ravine. East- and west-facing windows are protected by a ceramic frit and deciduous trees, which work together to temper low-angle sunlight and reduce energy demand. Along the south façade, wavelike perforated aluminum screens filter direct sun, providing glare-free daylight while referencing the rhythm of radio waves. Argon-filled, low-E glazing further enhances the building’s insulation by minimising heat transfer.
Environmental performance and building systems
To reach NASA’s sustainability objectives, the design followed multiple performance benchmarks from the outset. These include NASA’s Net Zero Energy Buildings Roadmap, ASHRAE 90.1, Labs21 Environmental Performance Criteria and LEED Gold standards.
The facility uses 30% less water and 30% less energy than a comparable building. Eleven percent of construction materials were recycled, and another 11% sourced locally, within 500 miles of the site. Low-VOC finishes, sustainably harvested wood, and energy- and water-saving fixtures reinforce the building’s environmentally responsible profile. Hydronic systems such as chilled beams, radiant panels and geothermal heating were incorporated to support energy efficiency, making the facility Net Zero Ready.
Beyond its performance metrics, the new communications space embodies a distinct architectural identity: The volumes, materials and graphic detailing communicate both the nature of NASA’s work and the facility’s role as a long-term, adaptable research environment.
