A Community Station

by Jonathan McGaha | July 31, 2014 12:00 am

In Yuma, Ariz., the population is growing, and it swells every winter with a seasonal influx of retired seniors and RV winter residents. To accommodate the growing east side, a new neighborhood-friendly substation was built, which serves a 7-mile radius. Designed by Michael Wilson Kelly-Architects Ltd.[1], Tempe, Ariz., the 4,500-square-foot Yuma Araby East Police Substation[2] is also a city microwave and emergency communications hub.

Considered a prototype community service and education facility, the substation can be expanded or repeated as Yuma’s population and neighborhood policing needs continue to grow, explains Michael Wilson Kelly, LEED AP, principal architect at Michael Wilson Kelly-Architects. The substation encourages regular use of its community room for neighborhood groups, and regularly hosts Community Block Watch, bike rallies, K-9 demonstrations and more under the free-standing ramada. Citizens can come to the station to file reports and complaints, and there’s a self-serve fingerprinting station and prescription drug drop off box in the lobby.

 

Climatic Conditions

Located within the Lower Colorado River Basin, the area’s harsh climatic conditions played a significant role in the substation’s design and material selection. Situated approximately 100 feet above sea level, Yuma is in an active earthquake zone, has shifting and blowing sands, temperatures up to 120 degrees, southwest winds up to 70 mph, dust and sand storms, and more. Even with an annual rainfall average of 3 inches and extremely low humidity, the area is prone to seasonal thunderstorms that produce flash flooding.

The site for the substation was originally 1.5 acres, chosen from a vacant 12-acre site owned by the city. Following schematic design, Kelly notes the site area was reduced to 1-acre, which led to a compact building footprint with less parking and paving, reducing the heat island effect. This also reduced the overall project cost by $350,000, he adds, while significantly lessening the long-term site maintenance and stormwater retention requirements.

The building faces south with all openings recessed and protected from the harsh summer sun. The west side is fully shielded by high-performance, weathered, corrugated metal-clad insulated walls with no fenestration. “These metal-clad walls wrap the community room on the west, south and east sides, and are punctuated with solar-responsive steel window frames on the south,” explains Kelly.

 

Material Selection

When selecting materials, protection, durability, low- to zero-maintenance, and life cycle cost benefit were all considered. The police substation features approximately 4,500 square feet of 24-gauge Tee-panels with 1-inch profile seams in Teal Green to match the fire station, from San Antonio-based Berridge Manufacturing. Steelscape, Kalama, Wash., supplied 1,000 square feet of 22-gauge, 7/8-inch Galvalume D-profile metal wall panels, and 300 square feet of its 22-gauge, 3/4-inch Galvalume U-panels for the soffits. The fascias, rakes and trims are various profiles of 22-gauge Galvalume. Rollfab Metal Products, Phoenix, fabricated all of the metal wall panels, along with 1,500 square feet of 22-gauge, 7/8-inch oxidized corrugated Corten steel wall panels. Southwest Steel & Supply, Tucson, Ariz., fabricated and installed all of the steel elements, including the matching steel trellises at the entrance and the free-standing ramada.

The community room is clad in 18-foot-high vertically orientated corrugated oxidized steel plates that respond to the climatically extreme southwest exposure. Inside, the room features identical perforated metal panels to create an acoustical sound trap within the metal and insulation sandwich.

“The oxidized metal will age with dignity while standing up to the harsh sun and sandblasting winds of the region,” explains Kelly. “Their corrugated flutes act as mini-chimneys conducting heat upward. The fluted reflective galvanized aluminum finish metal D-deck wall panels will mellow with age in the Arizona sun and nicely complement the dark gray concrete masonry walls.”

 

A Sustainable Approach

While the City of Yuma did not seek LEED certification for the substation, it follows a sustainable approach consistent with LEED. The substation has a rainwater harvesting system that waters a sunken 4,000-square-foot stormwater retention/turf/play area. Its energy management system is tied electronically to remote city facilities department monitoring, programming and control. The project also features a high-efficiency HVAC system with dual stage compressors and low-voltage lighting and effective daylighting. The high-performance metal-clad walls surrounding the community room are R-24, while the metal roof and insulating system achieve R-38. In addition to dual-pane insulated low-E glass, low-flow plumbing fixtures and waterless urinals, the project also features low-VOC finishes, low-water xeriscape and native plant materials.

Emphasizing the importance of visibility and a welcoming public presence, the police department’s centrally located lobby storefront glass required seasonally effective layers of shade and protection. In response, Kelly says they extended the higher metal-clad overhang prominently over the entrance and augmented it with a lower steel trellis animating the adjacent oxidized metal panels with changing light and shade. “This creates a strong indoor/outdoor sense of public welcome and visibility,” he says.

Completed in March 2013, the police substation had a tight budget of $1.2 million. The project took approximately a year and a half to complete. With an ambitious building program, Kelly notes that metals offered a solution of short-term cost benefits and long-term maintenance reduction.

 

Yuma Araby East Police Substation, Yuma, Ariz.
Owner: City of Yuma
Architect: Michael Wilson Kelly-Architects Ltd.[1], Tempe, Ariz.
General contractor: Yuma Valley Contractors Inc.[3], Yuma
Metal roofing supplier/installer: DMS Roofing[4], Yuma
Metal wall panel fabricator: Rollfab Metal Products[5], Phoenix
Steel fabricator/installer: Southwest Steel & Supply, Tucson, Ariz., (520) 294-9449
Doors: Rust’s River Glass, Parker, Ariz., (928) 669-2804
Metal roof panels: Berridge Manufacturing[6], San Antonio
Metal wall and soffit panels: Steelscape[7], Kalama, Wash.
Storefront: Arcadia Inc.[8], Vernon, Calif.

Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/articles/a-community-station/

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