2020 MCA Chairman’s Awards

To be considered, projects were submitted to Metal Architecture’s annual Design Awards program and the MCA Chairman’s Award program. The winning projects were chosen by an independent panel of architects: Christina Bazelmans of Lamoureux Pagano Associates, Worchester, Mass., Steven G. Blye of Chicago-based Legat Associates, and Yen Ong of Dallas-based 5G Studio Collaborative.

Judges considered a number of factors, including overall appearance, significance of metal in the project, innovative use of metal, and the role of metal in achieving project objectives. The winners met all of these criteria, along with a high standard of artistic expression. Awards are presented in seven categories: overall excellence; residential; education (colleges and universities); education (primary and secondary); institutional; municipal; and commercial. The 2020 award recipients listed below were announced at MCA’s virtual Winter Meeting on Feb. 3.

OVERALL EXCELLENCE

Chase Center Arena, San Francisco

The Chase Center is a state-of-the-art sports and entertainment arena in San Francisco, home to the Golden State Warriors, and the site of nearly 200 events per year. Its design celebrates the beauty of the city and reflects the diversity and artistic community around it.

The use of metal in the Chase Center, from the facade to the interior, is obvious and artful. Metal materials also aided the center achieve LEED Gold Certification in 2019. Metal cladding adds aesthetic contrasts of warmth and color to the exterior while capturing the modern grandeur of the interior.

“This is just wonderful,” Blye says. “The use of metal creates a sense of mystery and provides subtle gestures. Absolutely timeless design, very ambitious, extremely dynamic. I love it!”

MCA member company CENTRIA contributed metal panels and louvers to the building’s facade, including 35,000 square feet of exposed-fastener, corrugated, 20-gauge metal panels and 6,825 square feet of matching integrated louvers.

COMMERCIAL

DynaEnergetics US Inc. Headquarters, Blum, Texas

DynaEnergetics’ headquarters is a state-of-the-art manufacturing and office facility. Its exterior reflects the high-precision nature of the company’s products as well as its parent company’s European roots.

The exterior’s natural finish metal accentuates the landscape of the surrounding flat rural plains. Vertical and horizontal aluminum sunshades, coupled with reflective glazing, control heat.

“The use of metal gives the building a conspicuous texture and depth. I appreciate how expressive they made every element of this building,” Ong says.

Most of the building’s facade is clad in insulated metal panels created by Kingspan Insulated Panels Inc., an MCA member company.

EDUCATION – COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

Richard J. Daley College Manufacturing Technology and Engineering Center, Chicago

The 57,000-square-foot Manufacturing Technology and Engineering Center supports Daley College’s advanced manufacturing certificate and associate degree programs. The project spans links to the original college facility via a pedestrian bridge. Bold interior finishes and yellow exterior accents echo the brightly colored machinery in the high bay.

The building’s design was inspired by the center’s high-tech manufacturing equipment. The facility’s industrial aesthetic is further expressed through metal panels, glass and steel, as well as the “caution yellow” on the underside of the pedestrian bridge. Inside the bridge, circulation space intentionally collides with seating areas, platforms, and alcoves, encouraging students to congregate and participate in incidental learning outside of class.

“This is an outstanding project,” Blye says. “The triangular motif is expressive, and they really showcase the use of metal, which plays up the school’s curriculum.”

The project used 28,000 square feet of architectural metal panels from MCA member CENTRIA.

EDUCATION – SECONDARY & PRIMARY

Northridge Local Schools New K-12 Facility, Dayton, Ohio

At Northridge Local Schools, a school that brings together prekindergarten through 12th grade students, the winning project was a massive metal iceberg. The landmark instills school pride at the home of the Polar Bears, the school mascot.

Metal was chosen for this project because the material allowed for the different angles of the faceted panels. Metal also gave the iceberg a greater visual aesthetic with a variety of colorations as the light reflected differently.

“As small as it is, it has a big impact on the building,” Ong says. “I imagine it’s where the students will take the most selfies!”

MCA member company East Coast Metal Systems provided Secure-Scan 3-D Laser Scanning services and fabricated metal composite panels for the iceberg.

INSTITUTIONAL

Drivers Club, Redmond, Wash.

Drivers Club is a community of people who share a passion for high-performance cars. The facility needed to be a secure place for rare and exotic vehicles but also open and inviting for everything from informal gatherings to special events.

The design solution employs irregular, graphic patterning intended to evoke the experience of speeding past a fence or a guardrail. This design motif is most obvious at the large scale, with overlay panels on the building’s metal skin, and continues through bands of mass-planting in the landscaping and human-scale elements such as walkway bollards and Corten steel pickets in the pedestrian zone.

“This facility is elegantly detailed; I really like the rhythm of the room as well as the interaction between cool metal and warm wood,” Bazelmans says.

Presented with the Chairman’s Award were MCA member companies Kingspan Insulated Panels Inc., Metal Sales Manufacturing Corp., and Sherwin-Williams. The pre-engineered buildings were clad in a combination of insulated metal panels from Kingspan and single-skin metal panels from Metal Sales. The insulated Kingspan panels are the primary building envelope material. Kingspan used its own sealant and paint from Sherwin-Williams.

MUNICIPAL

Williston Basin International Airport, Williston, N.D.

The new airport is more than double the size of the old airport. To reflect the natural landscape of the airport’s surroundings, metal was selected to achieve the look of limestone while also being a cheaper, significantly lighter and more environmentally friendly option.

“This is a great exploration of metal,” Blye says. “The patterning is strong and done very effectively. Metal is used in a lot of different textures and forms, but it remains cohesive throughout and works well for a greater whole.”

MCA member companies CENTRIA and Kingspan Insulated Panels Inc., received Chairman’s Awards for this project. Kingspan’s rainscreen facade was used to create a beautiful, 10,000-square-foot enclosure at the main entrance elevation and north/south returns. The airport uses tens of thousands of square feet of CENTRIA metal products, including EcoScreen Perforated Screenwalls, corrugated panels in an Allusion Rust finish; Formawall panels in flat and embossed finishes, Silversmith and Dark Bronze colors; and single-skin wall panels in Dark Bronze.

RESIDENTIAL

108 Chambers, New York City

108 Chambers—also known as “The Tribeca Rogue”—is a 10-story, mixed-use building in downtown New York. To make the building stand out from those surrounding it, metal was used on the entire facade in custom shapes in geometric angular combinations on the windows on all 10 stories.

Because of the unique, specific shapes the project required, metal was the obvious choice for its ability to be shaped, formed and cut. Additionally, optical textures are achieved with Deco Bronze finish, which provided multiple levels of luminosity and glinting.

“This struck me as really interesting,” Bazelmans says. “It’s innovative, the paneling is bold, and the strong forms are interesting and make an insightful statement about the neighborhood—an all-around unique look.”

MCA member company BAMCO Inc. engineered and fabricated more than 10,000 square feet of Pure+Freeform’s 3-mm-thick aluminum wall panels with a deco bronze finish for the facade.