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As far as zoning rules go, Houston has a reputation as still living in the Wild West. Driving through a neighborhood, you can find a residence next to a stand-alone restaurant next to a low-rise office building next to a bail bond office in a strip mall. That mix-and-match philosophy results in neighborhoods with little identity.
The Stanaker Neighborhood Library provided an identity to its diverse, low-income neighborhood because it was both a center of activity and featured a very defining red stripe around the top of the building. But it was exactly those two characteristics that became design problems that project manager Matthew Duggan, AIA, LEED AP, needed to solve. Duggan is a senior associate at Houstonbased English + Associates Architects Inc.
“The original building was constructed in 1986,” Duggan says. “The exterior cladding was porcelain enamel panels with sealant joints. The building became an icon in the neighborhood because it had a 4-foot-tall red stripe around the top. Over time, only so much money and effort could be devoted to maintenance, and through various events the panels had become chipped or damaged.” The damage revealed the steel beneath and the modest 9,000-square-foot building began to take on the appearance of a rust-stained relic.
In addition, the building sat on the corner of a busy intersection and the entrance to the library included two driveways that were mere feet from the intersection. The solution? Re-clad the building in an energy-efficient, low-maintenance exterior that retains its iconic status, and re-orient the floor plan so the entrance was on the opposite side, away from the intersection.
A neighborhood presence
“We kept the foundation, roof and structure,” Duggan says. “Everything else was gutted.” For the exterior, Duggan chose Holland, Mich.-based Dri-Design aluminum panels that were 4 inches deep. These colorful panels created accent areas on the corners, and served as directional indicators to the new front entry. The majority of the exterior is clad in a tight horizontal pattern of VMZINC panels in a gray color that worked well in a neighborhood with an incredibly variable built environment. Those panels are made by Umicore Building Products USA Inc., Raleigh, N.C., and were only 1 1/4 inches deep, setting them back from the vibrant aluminum.
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Before picture shows the original entrance and
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The building site has a slight slope, so Duggan kept the bottom course of panels even all the way around the building, giving it a platform look. Accentuating that is a narrow concrete walkway that circumnavigates the building and keeps water away. “The building is elevated,” he says, “which gives it a little bit of presence. There are also some flood issues, so we needed to make sure we kept the panels dry.”
The selection of the aluminum and zinc were driven in large part by the ease of maintenance, but also because of the relationship between Dri- Design and Umicore, which meant the joint system was exactly the same for all products, simplifying construction.
But what of that iconic red stripe? The 4-by-4- foot aluminum panels reflect it in their color and brightness, but Duggan also specified a zinc panel stripe around the top of the building using four panels, each 1-foot tall. That material is natural zinc (the rest of the gray panels are quartz zinc), which starts out brighter then weathers to a natural patina, representing the change from the old red stripe to the new building.
The new canopy over the entrance features zinc panel soffits as well as the natural zinc panel array.
Smoothing traffic flow
Moving the entry to the back of the building helped resolve the traffic congestion at the busy intersection, but it required a reorientation of the interior. “Libraries are much more than books now,” says Duggan. “But books are still a key factor.” The re-orientation required changes to security and circulation, as well as clearly identifying different areas such as teens, adults and children’s books. The staff areas remained the same, but otherwise the interior flipped 180 degrees.
“We had to cut a big opening in the back wall and had to adjust the elevation by 18 inches,” he adds. “The sidewalks need to be elevated to meet the new height.”
Interior areas are defined by different colors and careful attention to fenestration helped illuminate specific areas in relation to others. For example, as customers round the corner off a smaller side street, they pass a bright section of aluminum panels that lead to the entrance. Windows there open into the children’s book area. On the inside, those windows in the corner of the building bring daylighting to that area and serve as focal points.
Residents of the neighborhood have taken advantage of this little workhorse of a library, keeping its 35 computer terminals occupied throughout the day, and using the large meeting room for afterschool programs and training. With its colorful, low-maintenance exterior, the Stanaker Neighborhood Library truly serves as a beacon for knowledge.
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Stanaker Neighborhood Library, Houston
Building owner: Houston Public Library, Houston
Project size: 9,045 square feet
Completion date: July 2012
Architect: English + Associates Architects Inc., Houston
General contractor: The Gonzalez Group, Houston
Metal panel installer: Byrne Metals Corp., Humble, Texas
Metal wall product representative and design assistance: Wade Architectural Systems, Humble
Curtainwall: EFCO Corp., Monett, Mo., www.efcocorp.com
Metal wall panels: Dri-Design, Holland, Mich., www.dri-design.com and VMZINC by Umicore Building Products USA Inc., Raleigh, N.C., www.vmzinc-us.com