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As the centerpiece of a cultural complex consisting of three museums and a performing arts center - all jewel-box size in comparison - The Duke Energy Center had to have enough detail at ground level to complement the neighboring edifices.
 
Limited access to the building's crown required that the installers rappel down the facade, hanging off ropes suspended 786 feet in the air on a 72-degree incline, to install the panels by bolting them to L-brackets on the substructure. The 50-story, 1,500,000-square-foot tower features 127,400 square feet of Reynobond^® aluminum composite material (ACM) with FR (fire-resistant) core on the corner details, exterior colonades, recessed entry portals and roofline.
 
To trim the "visual weight" of the building, the architects employed spandrel and vision glass. Reynobond ACM FR core panels were used to counterbalance the abundance of glass and to define the building corners and tapered crown elements.
 
The building is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design^TM  (LEED^®) platinum certified and was recognized by Siemens as the 2010 grand-prize winner in The Smartest Building in America Challenge^TM.