Selected by a panel of professional architects, eight outstanding building projects from across the country were recognized by the Metal Construction Association (MCA) at the METALCON Tradeshow and Conference at the Tampa Convention Center. The Chairman’s Awards are given to the year’s most exceptional building projects involving MCA member companies. Awards are based on overall appearance, significance of metal in the project, innovative use of metal, and the role of metal in achieving project objectives.
The Chairman’s Awards were given in seven categories: commercial/industrial; education, colleges and universities; education, primary and secondary schools; institutional; metal roofing; municipal; and residential. The judges also recognize a project for overall excellence.
Recipients for these awards are selected each year from projects submitted by MCA members to Metal Architecture’s annual Design Awards program. The honorees were chosen by a panel of professional architects, which included Elaine Fitzgerald, AIA, CCS, ArchiTech Consulting Inc., Mount Prospect, Ill.; Michael G. Fitzgerald, AIA, principal, OKW Architects, Chicago; and Ted Haug, AIA, LEED AP, Legat Architects, Chicago.
The 2015 Chairman’s Award winners in each category are:
Overall Excellence: The Connor Group Central Support Office, Miamisburg, Ohio
Architect: Moody Nolan, Columbus, Ohio
Contractor: Messer Construction Co., Dayton, Ohio
Metal installer: Celina Glass Co., Celina, Ohio
Metal fabricator: Royalton Architectural Fabrication Inc., North Royalton, Ohio
MCA member manufacturer: 3A Composites USA Inc., Statesville, N.C., www.alucobondusa.com
Photo: Daniel Lunghi
The $18-million, 39,000 square-foot, two-story building is situated on a 7-acre parcel at the Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport in Miami Township, Ohio. Design firm, Moody Nolan worked closely with executives at The Connor Group to create this innovative design as well as incorporated ideas from students at the Charter High School for Architecture and Design in Philadelphia-several of whom participated in design charrettes.
The Connor Group’s new corporate headquarters’ design is described as a double-loaded office bar wrapping around itself and uncoiling. The building’s “outer public skin” is clad in folded and triangulated sections of aluminum composite material (ACM) panels and strip windows. “The triangulations allow the building to twist and lean as momentum and movement build and pull around the perimeter to the high point,” according to the architect’s statement.
“These guys hit it out of the park,” says Michael Fitzgerald.
“The level of detail in this project is the best. All the joints, everything, are perfectly aligned … I think it’s got a sculptural quality, that’s what sets it apart,” adds Haug.
“The basic design parameter for this building was to provide every office with access to natural light,” says Daniel R. Pickett, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, and partner of Moody Nolan. He says that virtually all employees at The Connor Group work in private offices. The final design features no curved lines on the exterior and few right angles.
The design team quickly settled on metal to complement the building’s progressive architectural design and reviewed zinc, titanium and aluminum composite material as cladding options. “The complexity of this design and the manner in which the building’s skin was articulated required aluminum composite material,” says Pickett.
A total of 23,000 square feet of 3A Composite USA Inc.’s 4-mm Alucobond naturAL ACM in the Brushed finish was installed as building cladding. Royalton Architectural Fabrication Inc. fabricated 2,800 Alucobond panels-95 percent of which were non-repetitively sized. The Alucobond panels were installed by Celina Glass Co. Inc.
“We knew that the sun reflecting off the panels would change during the day,” says Pickett. “The Alucobond naturAL was the best material to capture the sun’s reflections.” The Alucobond panels fabricated in triangular shapes as well the installation of uniquely sized glass pieces enhanced the idea of twisting the building, according to Pickett.
Commercial/Industrial: Adjustable Forms Inc. Corporate Headquarters, Lombard, Ill.
Architect: DLR Group, Chicago
Contractor: Adjustable Forms Inc.
MCA member metal installer: Tuschall Engineering, Burr Ridge, Ill.
Metal wall panels: Dri-Design, Holland, Mich., www.dri-design.com
MCA member manufacturer: Umicore Building Products USA Inc., Raleigh, N.C., www.vmzinc-us.com
Photo: Gilbertson Photography
Adjustable Forms Inc., a leading cast-in-place concrete construction firm, had outgrown its facility and sought to renovate and expand upon its office and warehouse. Metal provided function, efficiency and a unique look to the building exterior. A high-performance rainscreen system and solid panel system made of zinc were used to bring a sophisticated contrast to the stark light-colored concrete building.
Also, a perforated zinc panel sunscreen system mitigates the harsh western sun in the late afternoons while providing a changing aesthetic as the sun moves across the sky. The zinc panel is an abstract representation of the formwork being lifted from the concrete mass, what builders call “stripping the forms.”
“This was the most robust category. There were 20-some entries and a lot of high-quality projects,” says Michael Fitzgerald. “They re-clad and laser cut a random pattern that becomes the skin, like a wallpaper pattern. It’s backlit so that it takes on a much different effect at night, almost this positive-negative effect depending upon the time of day and how it’s lit.”
“There is an intricacy to the metal, it has a delicate quality of lace, which you don’t expect,” adds Elaine Fitzgerald.
The design reuses the existing building’s elements where possible, including structural piles, foundations, steel joists and columns, roof decks and brick masonry walls. The existing concrete slabs were crushed and repurposed as granular fill material for new floor systems.
The project is tracking LEED Gold certification. For this project, metal provides a contemporary look while being a green design choice. The zinc panels are environmentally friendly and are 100 percent recyclable. Zinc panels are able to preserve their color for decades without maintenance thanks to zinc’s natural self-healing properties.
Education–Colleges and Universities: Los Angeles Trade Technical College–Mariposa Learning Resource Center, Los Angeles
Architect: Harley Ellis Devereaux, Los Angeles
Contractor: Suffolk Construction Co. Inc., Los Angeles
Metal installer: Tinco Sheet Metal, Los Angeles
Metal fabricator: MetalTech-USA, Peachtree City, Ga., www.metaltech-usa.com,
MCA member manufacturer: RHEINZINK America Inc., Woburn, Mass., www.rheinzink.us
Photo: RMA Architectural Photography
Los Angeles Trade Technical College transformed an outdated library into a mixed-use campus center increasing the usable area from 78,000 square feet to nearly 100,000 square feet, providing space for a variety of student activities.
For a construction cost of $27 million, the existing structure skeleton was reused, upgraded and skinned in a new high-performance envelope. Multiple functions were organized around a new central atrium and the basement was transformed into a light-filled, integrated space with views to a new carved out and landscaped garden.
Large window openings to the north provide daylight to open space areas. To the south, exterior metal sunshades combined with interior light shelves reflect natural light deep into the space without creating glare. Skylight openings on the top floor and light tubes for the lower floors transport light into the deeper floor zones.
Metal was the key component of the design. Conceptually, the exterior skin is comprised of a series of metal ribbons that weave around the building. They are pushed out by program requirements, or swung out to create shaded areas around the building, where required. The visual impact is an atmosphere of radiating energy that spreads throughout the campus. Large window openings to the north provide daylight to open space areas.
RHEINZINK America Inc. provided the prePATINA blue-grey Interlocking Reveal Panels that make up the building exterior.
“There is a dynamic nature of it,” says Haug. “The metal screens undulate in and out. In some areas it’s only 2 feet away from the wall and then in other areas it goes out 5 feet. When the sun hits it you get all these different shadow lines which are really, really cool.”
Education–Primary and Secondary Schools: Intrinsic Charter School, Chicago
Architect: Wheeler Kearns Architects, Chicago
Contractor: Clune Construction Co., Chicago
Metal installer: Hill Architectural Systems, Franklin Park, Ill.
MCA member manufacturer: Kingspan Insulated Panels Inc., Deland, Fla., www.kingspanpanels.us
Photo: Greg Folkins Photography
In Northwest Chicago, Intrinsic Charter School is a new, grade seven to 12 public school that aims to blend technology into its teaching program, in the hope of providing each student a path to college and a career.
The design team at Wheeler Kearns Architects was commissioned to transform several aging structures that once comprised a lumberyard into an innovative 68,000-square-foot school. The design team had three goals to meet: a fast-track schedule, insulating the school to face the Chicago winds, and creating an aesthetic look that would stand out in a sector filled with industrial buildings. Plus, budget constraints could not be exceeded.
The main structure of Intrinsic Charter School is a former barn that was constructed in 1954 for the family-owned Shannon Lumber Co. business. It is the northernmost extension of two connected structures built in 1911 and 1928. Other gutted buildings were linked to it to create a school that is 470 feet long and 94 feet wide. Because of its length, the building was subdivided into three fire zones with separate exits. The original buildings had brick bearing walls with long span roofs and bowstring trusses, but the wood trusses, placed in 1928, were replaced with steel joists.
The school’s design adapted and reused 75 percent of the existing lumberyard structures. That included an open air shed more than 40 feet tall, built in 1954 with solid wood columns cut from trees hand selected in the Pacific Northwest, and two buildings from 1911 and 1928. Once the basic frame was completed, the next step was to construct the building envelope.
The architecture firm specified Kingspan Insulated Panel Inc.’s BENCHMARK Designwall 2000 and 300 A Azteco insulated metal panels
(IMPs) for the school’s exterior cladding.
“On the outside they decided to clad it all in one material, but doing a kind of modified checkerboard system,” described Michael Fitzgerald. “Alternating with the dark and light and being able to sneak windows in where they wanted to be able to provide glass into what typically was common space or, in some areas, offices. With the glass being dark tinted you don’t really read the glass separate from the metal. It all kind of reads as a skin. It’s a pattern. You could almost look at it as wallpaper or a big snakeskin. That’s what it reminds me of every time I look at it.”
“Among the primary reasons we specified Kingspan products for this project was that they allowed the Intrinsic Charter School to meet code requirements for continuous insulation,” says Daniel Wicke, LEED AP, project architect for Wheeler Kearns Architects. “We also found the cost to be very compatible with the project’s budget parameters.”
“This, like many school projects, was on a fast track timeline that began in February and had to be completed by late August of that year,” says Wicke. “Installation of the Designwall 2000 panels was achieved quickly with no delays to the critical path of construction.” As time was ticking away, the Designwall single-component design made for fast on-site installation.
The two colors of panels were staggered creatively in a unique overlapping pattern. “To create the impressive staggered effect of the exterior, we specified the BENCHMARK Designwall 2000 panels in two colors, Zinc and Weathered Zinc,” says Wicke. “We wanted a color finish that would stand out, but not stick out, and we found that in Kingspan product colors.”
There were other color choices for IMPs that enhanced the Intrinsic Charter School exterior. “The 300 A Azteco wall panels we used to enclose the gymnasium portion of the structure is an impressive dark bronze color,” says Wicke. “We enjoyed the design flexibility made possible because these IMPs can fit many style applications.”
Institutional: University of California San Diego Jacobs Medical Center Central Plant, La Jolla, Calif.
Architect: Cannon Design, Los Angeles
Contractor: Kitchell Contractors Inc., San Diego
Metal installer: Best Contracting Services Inc., Gardena, Calif.
MCA member metal fabricator: DAMS Inc.–D. Architectural Metal Solutions Inc., Alsip, Ill., damsinc.com
MCA member manufacturer: Alcoa Architectural Products, Eastman, Ga., www.reynobond.com
Photo: DAMS Inc.-D. Architectural Metal Solutions Inc.
The 39,306-square-foot, two-story Medical Center Central Plant on the UCSD campus in La Jolla, Calif., features three 1,300-ton water chillers, two 30,000-gallon underground fuel tanks, and four emergency generators that serve Jacobs Medical Center.
Metal panels were used on the building’s exterior to carry the crisp sight lines and provide the finish and performance values that were required by this project.
“This was interesting because it was up against all the hospitals in the institutional category, you couldn’t do what they did with another material but metal … with all the details and bend, someone knew how to put it together really, really, really well,” says Elaine Fitzgerald.
Consistency of the exterior metal panels was one of this project’s major goals and achievements. Alignment of the curved roof and wall panels was critical. The building has a flowing horizontal fascia that stretches from the rolling landscape to the roofline and back again.
Reynobond aluminum composite panels from Alcoa Architectural Products were a clear choice because of the look, finish and performance values that were required by this project.
The CCRS Rainscreen System from DAMS Inc. was utilized in multiple scopes on this project including walls, fascia, soffits, and roof panels along with an integrated custom aluminum extrusion battens system without the sight of exposed fasteners and sealant joint.
The exterior cladding system incorporated four different custom color finishes of Reynobond’s 4-mm aluminum composite material panels.
DAMS designed and fabricated a secondary curved roof cladding system that was suspended over the main green roof and rolled down the walls and over grade. The roof cladding system included aluminum support post, secondary system framing, and custom rollformed extrusion snap in batten system to fulfill the architectural drawings and design intent.
Metal Roofing: Pearl Izumi North American Corporate Headquarters, Louisville, Colo.
Architects: ZGF Architects, Portland, Ore.; Arch11, Boulder, Colo.; and BuroHappold, Los Angeles
Contractor: Haselden Construction, Centennial, Colo.
Metal installer: B&M Roofing of Colorado, Frederick, Colo.
Metal fabricator: Premium Panels Inc., Arvada, Colo., www.premiumpanels.com
MCA member manufacturer: Drexel Metals Inc., Louisville, Ky., www.drexelmetals.com
Photo: Raul Garcia, Astula Inc.
The new $9.2 million, 55,000-square-foot headquarters sits on an 8-acre site at the foot of the dramatic Flatirons rock formations, and is strategically located along the Coal Creek Trail, a well-loved bike and running path. The facility houses research and design, prototyping and testing, marketing, management and financial functions for the corporation, which designs and manufactures high-end biking, triathlon and running gear.
A minimal palette of concrete, glass, wood and naturally weathering steel express a dynamic and elegant simplicity that respects Pearl Izumi’s Japanese heritage, celebrates the dramatic seasonal backdrop, and exemplifies a passion for outdoor sports. The design team went above and beyond local jurisdictional site planning requirements by incorporating a series of linked retention ponds to retain and treat all the stormwater on-site.
Metal was selected as the primary exterior building material for its ability to gracefully weather naturally over time, taking on the patina of the landscape. The Arch11 teamed with Buro Happold and ZGF architects to create this “design barn,” with metal roof and walls that reference the historical metal agrarian sheds found in the farms of the Colorado Front Range.
The building’s form and simple enclosure system echo the dramatic backdrop of the surrounding mountains. Triplicate clerestories on both sides of the building, representing Pearl Izumi’s “Ride-Tri-Run” motto, lift and tilt the roof, creating valleys and crests, which allow daylight and natural ventilation to reach far into the workspace year round.
The building’s naturally weathering metal exterior offers the appearance that it has been there a long time, shaped by the natural forces of wind, sun and snow. The form burrows into the landscape, intuitively angled to reflect the sharp lines of the Flat irons, protect the inhabitants from the elements, and afford unobstructed views. It creates a low-impact, sustainable development that offers a subtle backdrop to the vibrant and innovative process taking place within.
“It has a sense of literally growing out of the ground which I think is a really nice atrophy,” says Haug.
The 43,000 square feet of roofing and 17,000 square feet of siding are 2 inches high by 18 inches wide, 180-degree mechanically-seamed standing seam panels, was formed on-site by Premium Panels Inc. Additionally, 22,000 feet of shop-fabricated flashing and sheet metal trim components were installed on the metal roof and siding systems. Drexel Metals Inc. supplied the steel for the project.
“This building reflects the passion for outdoor performance products and the athletic lifestyle Pearl Izumi champions,” says Cache Mundy, vice president of product and development, Pearl Izumi. “It truly serves as a purpose-built space for our employees to craft and deliver our products while reflecting our Colorado roots with access to the outdoor sports we love.”
Municipal: Principal Riverwalk Pavilion and Pump House, Des Moines, Iowa
Architect: Substance Architecture, Des Moines
Pavilion contractor: Covenant Construction Services, Waukee, Iowa
Pump station contractor: Larson and Larson Construction, Urbandale, Iowa
Pavilion metal installer: Midwest Glazing, Chicago
Pump station metal installer: Architectural Wall Systems Co., West Des Moines, Iowa
MCA member manufacturer: Umicore Building Products USA Inc., Raleigh, N.C., www.vmzinc-us.com
Photo: Gilbertson Photography
When the Riverwalk Pavilion was initially being designed, there was no plan for the Pump Station. As a result, the Pavilion was seen as a stand-alone piece. However, when the decision was made to construct the Pump Station in response to the major 2008 Iowa flood, Substance Architecture decided to have the two buildings relate to one another to frame a public plaza.
The Pavilion is energy efficient and utilizes daylight harvesting, LED lighting, and ground source (geothermal) heating and cooling. The Pump Station is utilized only during flood events. The Pavilion was designed using zinc and glass to create an open, light structure. Substance Architecture sought a dark, yet lightweight material that would reinforce the idea of being folded. Zinc was a natural choice because it brought durability and an appealing, “crafted” appearance.
The two buildings are formally related and work together to create a civic space. The material chosen was a VMZ Standing seam panel in ANTHRA-ZINC Plus measuring 0.8-mm-thick from Umicore Building Products USA Inc.
The Pavilion is open and transparent, as the zinc skin unfolds to provide breathtaking views both in and out of the interior. The Pump Station exterior is opaque, with a similar zinc skin that remains closed around flood control equipment. Also, the VMZ Standing seam panels become louvers on the west façade, which allows for picturesque views upriver while also blocking the harsh western sun.
“You couldn’t do this in brick, you couldn’t really do it in concrete,” says Elaine Fitzgerald. “The ability to get the fins, the transparent elements in the building so you could see through it is a really great use of the metal there. What’s nice about this too is the combination of all the materials in here. It’s one of the metal projects that really fits in with the entire palette that they used on the project.”
Residential: 1611 W. Division Apartments, Chicago
Architect: Wheeler Kearns Architects, Chicago
Contractor: Power Construction Co., Chicago
Metal installer: Hill Architectural Systems, Franklin Park, Ill.
MCA member manufacturer: Kingspan Insulated Panels Inc., Deland, Fla., www.kingspanpanels.us
Photo: Tom Rossiter
The 11-story building includes 99 residential units above its first floor, which has spaces reserved for commercial use. Committees and designers spent long hours to get the 1611 W. Division building project off the ground. The site was previously the address of a one-story Pizza Hut built in 1983. After it was demolished in 2012, developers Paul Utigard and Rob Buono decided to construct an impressive 11-story, metal-and-glass, LEED Silver-compliant apartment building in its place, which is now a landmark for the neighborhood.
The building’s faceted façade inverts down to the sidewalk to broaden the pedestrian experience while providing cover under a sculptural aluminum canopy. Rather than a conventional all-glass façade, the exterior is a balance of glass and insulated opaque panels offering light and views while improving the buildings overall thermal performance by 81 percent and reducing solar heat gain by 58 percent. While there are many ways to accomplish this, architect Wheeler Kearns wanted the building envelope to create a sense of presence that would identify with the character and individuality of the people living in this progressive community.
Kingspan Insulated Panels Inc.’s BENCHMARK Designwall 1000 insulated architectural metal panels were chosen to clad the apartment building. The panels were specified to create the insulated metal panel system functions as an affordable rainscreen wall system that offers impressive curb appeal and excellent thermal performance. To complete the look it was installed with Kingspan custom flashing products.
By specifying with this single-component wall system, the design team saved substantial installation costs. Faster on-site installation time compared to traditional multi-part exterior walls helped the 1611 W. Division project stay on schedule, while reducing the building’s overall demand for energy.
“There’s Intelligentsia with this thin metal canopy that projects out and that’s hard to do in our climate because it collects snow and rain. It takes a creative structural engineer. A daring one too,” says Michael Fitzgerald.
In direct response to the neighborhood and city, the project eliminates parking for residents, creating a development marketed entirely towards mass transit goers, bicyclists, and pedestrians. It also addresses the larger environmental goal of providing higher density housing and services without adding undesired traffic. The project is a rare example of cooperation and collaboration between community, municipality, developer and architect that embodies the vision and mission of Wheeler Kearns Architects.