Kansas City, Mo.-based architectural firm Populous, and Raleigh, N.C.-based Umicore Building Products USA Inc. partnered on a unique and challenging project:
ONEOK Field in Tulsa, Okla.
It started in the schematic phases of the project when Anne Morse of Morse Architectural Products, Kansas City, called on Steve Boyd, senior associate and project designer at Populous to discuss the material choices for the new ballpark. Right from the start, VMZINC-Umicore’s brand of architectural zinc-was a factor in the architect’s conception of the new park.
“Zinc came into play early on when I met with Anne to talk about potential materials for the project,” said Boyd. “… zinc really caught my eye-especially how it could lend itself to my ‘strata’ concept (referring to the soil strata and history of Tulsa). The ANTHRAZINC, which is used on the vertical tower in the home plate area, represents oil rushing from the ground. The PIGMENTO Clear and QUARTZ-ZINC represents the striations in the strata of the Tulsa soil which developed the oil deposits,” he added, referring to the aspect or color choices of VMZINC.
This project presented an unusual challenge for the Umicore team. Most building owners are looking for a homogeneous shade of gray in zinc. This shade is available in VMZ’s QUARTZ-ZINC finish-a factory induced patina that simulates the natural patina of zinc. Boyd was looking for a mixture of shades for this impressive project.
“We spent millions of dollars, invested over 30 years and countless man-hours to develop the best pre-weathered zinc on the market,” said Dan Nicely, director of architectural sales for Umicore. “We control our batches and measure the Y-factor, which is the grayscale, to make sure that it falls into acceptable ranges on every batch. This is a logistical and production challenge that only the best zinc producers in the world offer,” he added. “In the case of Tusla’s ONEOK Field, the architect was asking for the greatest variation possible instead of the tightest, which is what we developed. ‘Ironic’; is one of the friendlier terms we heard from our colleagues in production.”
The simple answer would be to mix batches of different Y-Factors and supply that material for the job. However, simple would not have provided the results that the architect was looking for. “First off, even the larger discrepancies in the batches would not have been great enough for what [Boyd] was looking for,” commented Bryan Ninneman, project manager at Umicore. “Second, when exposed to the atmosphere even factory weathered zinc will continue to weather. We wanted to slow this down as much as possible and do everything in our power to highlight the differences. So, we used our PIGMENTO Clear or Strat coating which is a thicker coating that hides fingerprints on some material, and our standard QUARTZ-ZINC in a consistent Y-factor range for the remainder to give [Boyd] the longevity in the contrast he was looking for. The coatings will effectively seal the zinc for a period of time and stunt the weathering process. Our zinc is also directional with a very fine grain,” said Ninneman, “by varying the direction of the panels, we played off of the spectral or grain-induced differences that are noticeable in sunlight.”
RCI Roofing and Sheet Metal Inc., originally from Brighton, Mich., opened a shop in Tulsa specifically for this project. RCI was tasked with mixing but not matching the panels for the project on the site. In order to allow for maximum flexibility, RCI decided to fabricate the panels from VMZINC flat sheets on site. The skill and craftsmanship that RCI utilized is apparent. Tony Biddix, of RCI summarizes his experience with this project as, “The ONEOK Field project was a fantastic opportunity for RCI Roofing and Sheet Metal Inc. to showcase our workmanship and capabilities, and to deliver a quality product to the customer. We look forward to working with VMZINC again.”
Ninneman remained impressed with the project now that it is completed, “Working with an amazing firm like Populous is always great. But to work with them on a project that, excuse the pun, is against the normal grain, was that much more exciting. The effect is amazing and it was a real pleasure to be there for the opening game.” Boyd summarizes the material and the project the best, “Words cannot express my satisfaction with zinc. It is an amazing product. The ballpark would not be the same without it.”
